Devils Child
by chikane-chan
Summary: The devil is sick of ranma evading him, and creates a clone of ranma's girl side to frame him. But she eventually breaks free of his hold and he tortures her for that.
1. Creation

Chapter 1: Creation

The light in the cave flickered slightly, a red beast paced back and forth his horns glistened from the faint light in the cave. This red beast was none other then the prince of darkness Satan. Satan glared at the man in his mirror. "How dare you mock me Ranma Saotome!" Satan was angry at this young martial artist, because no matter how hard he tried to bring him into the darkness, Ranma wouldn't let him." I'll get my revenge just you wait and see!" Satan slams open a small cabinet and tosses things around, until he finds a small vase with black liquid inside. "Ahahahaha I've found it!" slams down the cauldron and begins brewing his stew.

Meanwhile at the Tendo dojo ranma is practicing in the dojo, Akane sits and watches as ranma works out. "Ranma don't you think that's enough for one day?" Ranma turns to akane, "It's never enough." "Ranma you idiot.." As ranma turned back, and invisible hand plucks some of his hair from his head Ranma screams, "Ahhh why'd you do that for akane!" Akane looks at ranma confused "Huh?" Ranma looks at her. "You pulled my hair just now!" Akane starts to get angry. "I did not! Why would I want to I have my own!" Ranma rolls his eyes at her. "Like you've got any left." "Who's fault do you think that was you jerk!" Akane slams ranma with her hammer, straight into the koi pond , a pissed off girl ranma pops up "So damn uncute!" Akane storms off in rage. "Damn I'll never understand that girl." Ranma looks down at her chest, and frowns, as she's not paying attention Satan's hand plucks some of her hair. "Ahhhh! Jeez how sneaky can you be akane!"

Satan chuckles with glee as he holds a black hair and a red hair in his hands, "Yes these will do just fine." runs over to his brew and drops the red hair in first, deciding that the black hair is worthless, he tosses it aside. "I've got a surprise for you ranma saotome!" The brew starts bubbling uncontrollably, and changes from sea green to a dark black, Satan rubs his hands together pleased with his work Out of the brew a hand shoots up from the black liquid. Satan grabs the hand and pulls a naked female version of ranma out of the pot. chuckles to himself "Now we must prepare you my dear." He scoops the naked red headed girl up into his gigantic claws and tiptoes down a dark passage way.

Down in the dark laboratory, Satan reads off a dark magic spell book, little sprints of red lights can be seen dancing in front of the female. "Now my evil one awaken, and do as I command you to do."

The red lights zap into the girl, making her light up with a red glow around her. The girl slowly opens her blue eyes. Satan smiles at the girl. "Hello Onna". the girl faints. " She's as girlie as they come. Ah well now to the good part, he yanks a red gem necklace off his desk, and puts it around the girls neck. "Now have fun." chuckles to himself. "If ranma won't come to my side, I'll just have my own evil doer!"

Onna opens her eyes slowly. "Did I actually sleep that long?" looks at the clock on her shelf. "Oh no I'm late for school!" jumps out of bed and grabs her black sailor girl school uniform and forces it on, while brushing her teeth and then brushing her hair out. A woman with black hair down to her hips looks in from the door, "Late again I see."

Onna looks over to the woman. "Oh come on it's not that late Alley."

Alley folds her hands across her chest "Yes it is."

Onna looks at the clock again. "Yeah I guess your right." grabs a piece of toast and rushes out of the house and jumps on her bicycle. Alley peers through the window, and watches as onna rides off. "Good." The woman walks over to the black curtains and pushes them apart to reveal a gold trimmed mirror. "Master I'm here to report." Satan's image appears in the mirror. "That's good, keep watching her for me." Alley peels off the human mask, and stares at herself in the mirror and instead of the woman with nice black hair, and green eyes, there's a she devil with black hair and emerald eyes, "Don't worry I'm sure the girl, won't disappoint you."

Meanwhile onna jumps off the bike and chains it to the bike rack. " I hate coming here." she starts walking up to the large school building slowly. A girl passes by with another girl chatting on and on about the new cross necklace she had gotten. Onna glares at the girl and her cross mutters softly, "There's no need to brag about something holy." Onna walks past the two girls into the school. Later on the girl with the cross walks into the girl's bathroom to wash her hands, Onna follows her through the shadows silently. The girl starts to wash her hands, and hum to herself, Onna comes up behind and yanks the cross necklace so that it's choking the girl. "You see where this gets you!" The girl coughed and slowly stopped breathing, and slumped down onto the floor. Onna walks out of the bathroom and back to class, as If nothing had happened.

Satan and alley sit on the black velvet couch, toasting to there victory. "Alley you and I have done such a good job with her so far." Alley now in her true form. "Satan we could think of her as our child." Satan smiles at the she devil. "Now alley my dear, that is a great idea, If any of the humans she hangs around with asks about her parents, we shall answer that question for them." "No wonder they call you the prince of darkness." She kisses him and stops suddenly "But wait, if she ever meets up with Ranma Saotome!" Satan puts his palm over alley's mouth "Yes I know she looks identical to ranma's girl side, but that makes it so very interesting."

At the school the police are investigating the murder, students huddle around the crime scene, hoping to catch a glimpse, a police man walks up to red headed girl and asks her if she knew anything. "No sir I'm sorry I don't know I thing, and I must say it's such a tragedy." Police man rubs his head. " Sorry to have bothered you." he walks off towards another student. Onna walks out of the school, and unlocks her bike and heads back home. The red gemstone glimmers as the sunlight hits it.

Alley has her eyes closed. "I can sense our dear one coming home." her tail sways back and forth. Satan sensed it as well. "I'll be going then, and put your human disguise back on, you might frighten her if she she's you like that." "Yes master." Alley puts back on her mask, with a flick of her finger her body changes to a human one, and the mask melts onto her red face, becoming real.

Onna jumps off her bike, and wheels it into the garage, and runs up to the front door.

Alley opens the door. " Hello dear, how was school?"

Onna drops her book bag down onto the couch. "It was alright I guess."

"Why are you home so early dear?"

"Early dismissal, I'm tired so I'm going to take a nap." walks off to her room.

Onna wakes up an hour later half awake and looks around and see's red light coming from the other room. Alley as a she devil. "Yes master.. I understand.. I think she's awake.." turns back and closes the curtain really fast. "Had a good nap dear?" Onna rubs her eyes at what she thought she had seen. "More or less." walks off into the kitchen.

"How was school?"

"I hated it."

"Meet anyone new today?" Alley gets all hopeful.

Onna shrugs. "No not really."

Alley quiet and thinking to herself ( "drats.. maybe tomorrow..")

Onna runs out the door with a poptart in her mouth and hops on her bike and rides off to school really fast, and chains up her bike and skids inside to her classroom right when the bell rings. A black haired girl greets her as she skids in, "Hey girl you made it just in time."

"I guess I did huh." Onna takes a seat and puts her head down.

"Hey I'm ivory sanchez , and you?"

" I'm onna satomi.."

Ivory gave out a slight laugh. "I can see your exhausted from running here, so we'll talk later."

Later at lunch time, ivory spots onna and waves her hand around, so she can see her. "Hey onna over here." Onna walks over and sits down. Ivory decides to start the conversation. "So did you know were going to visit Furikan High school tomorrow? You know that school with a lot of martial artists and stuff."

"No I didn't." onna sips her drink and listens to ivory go on about it.

"Yeah the ever famous ranma saotome is at furikan high."

Onna's red gem necklace glows lightly beneath her shirt. "Ranma Saotome…."

"Yeah you sorta look like him you know, it'd be neat if we met up with him huh." starts to eat her lunch.

Authors notes: There I hope your happy reviewer, I changed it.. jeez everything is illegal. I liked my script style..

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters, the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Shogukan, and Viz video and anyone else I forgot.


	2. The Trip

Chapter 2: The Trip

Onna gets off her bike and wheels it into the garage, thinking about what ivory had told her. Alley is waiting at the front door. "So how was school this time?" Onna walks in through the front door. "It was alright, I made a new friend." takes off her book bag and flops on the couch and turns the tv on.

"And what was is this friends name?" hopeful she has met ranma.

"Her name's Ivory Sanchez seems she's the only normal chick in that school."

"You mean furikan high?"

"No but were visiting there tomorrow though."

Alley smiles evilly to herself. "Ooh how exciting for you, you should get to bed early then."

"Maybe." watches TV.

Students enter the bus and find there seats next to their friends. Ivory waves at onna. "Hey over here girl!" Onna sits down next to her. "So were off to Furikan high school huh."

"Yeah I'm excited about it, furikan has some hotties."

Onna smiles. "I suppose so." looks out the window as the bus starts up and pulls out of the school parking lot.

"You know furikan isn't that far from our school really."

"Oh?"

"Nope it's just a couple blocks away actually, and we get to have lunch with the students, isn't that so exciting!" bounces in her seat.

"Yeah hopefully there not stupid like our school."

Akane watches the students get off the bus from the window, her eyes go wide when she spots a red headed girl that looks like ranma. "Ranma get over here quick!" "What the hell do you want from me now Akane?" ranma walks over to where she's carrying on and looks at what she's looking at. Akane points. "See that girl down there.. she looks like your girl side ranma.." Ranma looking. "Yeah she does.."

"Stay away from that girl.. she could be that evil side of your girl side, remember when happosai brought her out from your being.. maybe he did it again.."

"Yes I remember that.. but he hasn't done anything like that.. I should investigate this further.."

"If you must.. but I'm coming with you!" looks quite angry.

Ranma shrugs. "Whatever.. I don't see why your getting so angry over this." walks off to the cafeteria.

Ivory looking around the cafeteria and eyeing random guys. "Man I love furikan, I should transfer here!"

Onna: laughs. "Maybe you should." eyes the food.

"Even there food looks better!" checking out the variety of breads and other foods.

"You should definitely transfer here then." laughs and buys a couple of breads and some ramen and sits down at an empty table.

Ivory sits down next to her with a good amount of about every item. "I really should, shouldn't I."

Kuno walks into the cafeteria area and spots the red haired girl and the black haired girl. "By the heavens it is my goddess?" peers at her and notes her hair is loose with no pigtail but she looks the same. "Alas it is my pigtailed goddess but she has no pigtail today.. she must be celebrating her victory from the vile sorcerer RANMA SAOTOME!"

Onna freezes upon hearing the name and her gem starts to glow beneath her shirt slightly. "_Ranma Saotome…."_

Ranma enters the cafeteria with Akane hot on his trail. Akane is looking around the cafeteria like a hunting dog. Kuno whacks ranma with his kendo stick. "Hahahaha ranma saotome the pigtailed goddess if free from your evil black magic!" Akane smacks her forehead. "Oh my god kuno…"

"What the hell kuno.. I didn't do anything to you today…" Ranma rubs his head.

"Be silent fiend.. leave now or feel my wrath!" kuno swishes his kendo sword around.

Akane sighs and pulls her mallet out of nowhere and slams kuno on the head with it. "He really can be annoying…" growls as she spots ranma going towards the red head.

Ivory's eyes get all big as she spots him walking towards the table. "Hey onna look, a furikan student is coming this way." Onna snaps out of it. "Huh?"

Ranma stops at the table and eyes the red haired girl. "Hi.. I'm.." gets whacked on the head by akane.

"What did I tell you! I said don't talk to her!" akane shakes him violently.

Onna glares at the ugly short haired girl. "What is your problem…just because your ugly and hot tempered doesn't give you the right to order people around.."

"I am not ugly.. how dare you.. if I find out you are ranma's girl side I will get you.."

Onna's gem starts to glow beneath her shirt. "_Ranma…_"

Ranma eyes akane and the red haired girl. "Akane let me handle this alright.."

"NO! she called me ugly.."

Ranma laughs at akane. "Well you are.. sooooo uncute."

Akane fumes with anger. Kuno wakes up from his mallet nap and glomps akane. "Oh Akane Tendou how I've missed you!" Ranma takes the opportunity and grabs the red head by the hand and runs out of the cafeteria with her. "I need to talk to you alone.." stops running after there outside and lets go of her hand, noticing the girl doesn't look amused.

"Look I'm sorry but.. she wouldn't have let me talk in peace if I stayed there.. so what's your name?" thinking she'll say ranma. Onna eyes him. "Onna Satomi." Ranma blinks. "Oh.. so why do you look like me?"

"Just the way I was born I guess…"

Akane huffing and puffing after malleting and kicking kuno through the ceiling." Damn where'd he run off to." Looks around and notes the red haired girl is gone.

"Alright Asadaiba students follow me back to the bus, the trip's been called short in light of the furikan high students starting fights.."

"Onna where'd you go…your going to get left behind.." Ivory follows the rest of the school's student's behind the teacher. Akane is pissed as hell, as she wondered where they went, she told him not to go near that girl. "RANMA!" Ukyou rubs her ears as akane stalks by. "Poor Ranma huney I wonder what he's done now, to unleash the beast upon him." Shake's her head.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters the great and glorious Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Shogukan, and Viz video and whoever else I forgot.


	3. Left Behind

Chapter 3: Left Behind

The bus full of Asadaiba students pull's out of furikan high's parking lot and drives off, with ivory trying to tell the teacher that they have forgotten a student, but the teacher is busy talking away with her favorite student. Akane see's the bus for asadaiba high leaving, and thinks her problem is solved and goes back to searching for ranma ending up where ukyou is.

"Hey Ukyou have you seen Ranma?"

"No I haven't, Akane you seem like you've calmed down a bit.."

"Excuse me?

"Well you were upset that was plain and simple to see, so why were you if you don't mind me asking?"

"Well you remember that time with ranma's evil girl side, I think she's back.. and ranma was off talking to it!" Akane rants on and on.

Ukyou fake's a smile and nods while thinking to herself. ("Jeez I'm sorry I asked.. I should've kept my mouth shut.. now she'll never shut up..")

Meanwhile ranma tries to get more answers from this girl who looks just like his girl side, except that she wears her hair down and it's a bit longer and she isn't wearing any chinese clothes. Instead she is wearing a simple black and white sailor uniform and very big boots, ranma wonders if those boots are against school rules, and he also notes her skull earrings. Onna is getting quite tired of this boy oggling her up and down, and ranma senses this and stops before he gets hurt.

"So you were born looking just like me? You sure you've never been to china in the legendary training grounds?"

Onna sweatdrop. "What the hell are you talking about, if that's all you had to say after dragging me away from my friend, I'm going to get really mad…"

"Well um.. you see.." ranma sweatdrop.

Onna taps her foot impatiently. "Ok I've heard enough thanks, I'm going now." She gets up to leave, not noticing the wall on her right side starting to crack.

The wall cracks wildly and then an explosion occurs, sending bits of pieces of wall debris all over the place, and the hall is filled with dust making it hard to see, ryouga steps out through the hole he made with his attack and looks around and spots two figures somewhat.

"Where am I now? Ryouga sweatdrop and grabs the first figure without looking. "Tell me is this Furikan High?"

Onna coughs from the dust. Ryouga can see somewhat and notes the figure is a girl with red hair and blue eyes and automatically think's it's ranma. "RANMA!"

"I'm over here P-chan.."

Ryouga is quite confused as he looks from the girl to ranma. "Don't play dumb with me ranma!

Ranma sweatdrop. "Ok then how can I be in two places at once.. huh stupid!" Ryouga thinks about this. "Hmm.." looks more closely at the girl he is holding by the shirt, and notes how differently dressed she is, ranma never ever wore a school girls outfit without boxers underneath, and earrings? Would he ever go that far? Realizing he's holding an actual girl and has seen her underpants his nose starts to bleed and he gets very embarrassed and drops the girl suddenly.

No one seems to notice the gem around her neck glowing lightly, and that she's in a daze from hearing the name ranma. Onna eyes are glazed over and she's just sitting there on the floor zoning. Ranma see's the girl just sitting there looking out of it and becomes abit worried, that maybe ryouga had hurt her. Walks over to where the girl is and kneels down to her level and shakes her slightly and says her name questionably.

Onna snaps out of her daze and notes the pigtailed boy near her. "Huh?"

"You alright? Did ryouga hurt you or anything?" Ranma notes the necklace around the girls neck and that it looks like it's glowing somewhat and tries to get a closer look at it and reaches out to the gem and gets shocked by it, and pulls his hand away alarmed. Onna also notes this and is quite surprised. "Um no he didn't.. um.."

"I forgot if I introduced myself to you or not, but I'm Ranma Saotome, and what's up with your necklace huh.."

"You must be imagining things.. it is quite dusty in here because of your perverted friend over there.." gets up and dusts herself off. "Now I'm leaving, you've wasted enough of my time.."

"Yeah maybe I did.. ryouga nah he just doesn't think.. Oh you know your way around my school then?" Ranma quirk's an eyebrow at her.

Onna is quite embarrassed seeing as she's walked into a closet. "Um I guess not.." "Seeing as I'm the one who separated you from your group, I'll show you the way back to the cafeteria." Ranma starts walking down the hall, towards the cafeteria. Onna follows after him, walking behind him from a distance abit annoyed by the recent events.

Ukyou is getting quite tired of hearing akane and can't hold her tongue any longer as the tomboy goes on bashing her ranma huney for randomly stupid things, and how she keeps on bringing up this new girl.

"Shutup already Akane I get it your mad at this girl, now if you don't mind I'm going to go get some lunch." Ukyou walks off quite annoyed.

Akane blinks wondering what came over ukyou.

Nabiki comes up from behind akane. "Now you know how I feel, when you do that to me, of course I'm kind enough to let you go on as long as I get paid for suffering." Akane grumbles and pulls out a 10 yen coin and gives it to nabiki. "Alright I paid you now will you listen to me?"

"I suppose that's enough for me to listen to you for atleast 5 minutes, now if you want more time you know the drill little sister."

"I know.. any way have you heard about that red head from the Asadaiba group?"

"No I didn't, but thanks to you I have, do go on." Nabiki pulls up a chair and sits down quite interested.

"Well she looks just like ranma's girl side, she could be the evil part that happosai brought about before."

Nabiki eyes get wide with excitement. "Oh you don't say, she looks just like ranma's girl side?"

"Yes except she dresses like a girl.. and her hair's a lot longer then ranma's…and he's off talking to her when I said not to!" Akane slams her fist through her desk.

"You don't say…well that little action has cost you.." Nabiki gets up and walks out of the room really fast before akane starts with her. Nabiki plots on and on of how if she finds this girl that looks like ranma's girl side, how much money she can make. She could take photo's of her wearing real girl clothes, unlike ranma who usually wore boxers and rarely ever wore a bra as a girl, and always had the same hair style it was getting boring. Kuno would pay double for such pictures and so on. Nabiki loved this day, and had to meet ranma's girl side no matter what.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Shogukan, Viz Video and any others I forgot.


	4. Let's go

Chapter 4: Let's go

Ranma leads the way into the cafeteria, looking around for the Asadiba group, and he spots ukyou at a table eatting her lunch and goes over to where she is thinking she might know where the group went.

"Hey Ukyou, did you happen to see where the Asadaiba group went?"

"Hey Ranma huney, oh you mean the field trip group, oh they left awhile ago." Finishes her lunch and sips her drink.

"They left?" Ranma looks abit nervous, thinking the asadaiba girl will kill him for making her get left behind.

Ukyou blinks at ranma. "What's wrong sugar? You look upset.."

Ranma rubs the back of his head nervously and leans down and whispers to ukyou . "Have you seen akane by any chance?"

"Yes she wouldn't shut up about this evil girl you were off with, is this true ranma huney?" ukyou looks at him intently.

"Evil girl ..no.. um well yes but she's not evil I think she just happens to look like my girl side, so I really wanted to talk to her and clear a few things up and I guess I made her miss her ride back to her school.."

Onna stands near the cafeteria door looking around for any of the students from her school and for her friend Ivory, and after looking around the whole area she feels abit disappointed that she isn't finding anyone from her school. Nabiki enters the cafeteria by the doors where onna is standing, and spots her and a happy smirk spreads across her face.

This short brown haired girl looks at onna up and down making her get annoyed at how this girl is gawking at her. "Listen if you've got something to say to me then say it, don't just sit there and annoy me by starring.." she crosses her arms.

"Sorry I thought you were ranma but your not, he'd never wear an outfit like that

Onna starts to feel herself acting all weird from hearing the name, but overpowers the urge. "Well I'm not ranma, and of course he wouldn't he's a guy, and I'm not a guy, I'm a girl." her red gem necklace glows brightly beneath her shirt.

Nabiki eyes her uncertain. "I'll be right back ok." She runs off to the kitchen area and gets a cup and fills it with hot water, and goes back to where the girl is and dumps the water on her head.

Onna blinks and notes she's wet. "What the hell was that for! You got my hair all wet and my uniform.." grumbles and glares at the brown haired girl.

Nabiki notes there is no change in form or anything for that matter and is quite satisfied, she could indeed make a fortune off this new girl and make kuno very happy while also making herself happy in the greed category. But now she had gone and gotten her money maker mad at her, she had to act fast to repair the damage.

Ryouga wakes up finally looking around and slowly remembering why he had passed out, and looks around for ranma and the girl that he had mistaken for ranma how stupid was he. Oh well he'd properly apologize to the girl and give ranma a proper beating as soon as he could find him. Akane stomps around the hallways fuming mad looking for ranma, and without realizing it steps on ryoga's body thinking nothing of it.

"When I find him.. he's a dead man!"

"Ooh hi akane." Ryouga is all embarrassed but happy to see her at the same time. Akane's anger disappears as she notices she's stepping on ryouga's body, and gets off him quickly. "Ooh Ryouga I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there."

"It's ok akane." Ryouga has a stupid goofy look on his face and he's poking holes in what's left of the wall with his finger.

"Ryouga have you seen Ranma by any chance." she is talking all sweet.

Ryouga is lost in thoughts of akane with her sweet voice, at this moment nothing else mattered to him as he starred back at the girl he loved.

Nabiki thinks of a way to smooth things over with the redhead girl before her, and soon she gets an idea. She'll befriend the girl and find out more about her, the more she knows about the ranma look alike the more details she could tell to her many customers.

"I'm sorry it's just I didn't know if you were ranma's evil girl side or not, come with me and I'll get you some dry clothes for the time being, oh how rude of me for not introducing myself, Im Nabiki Tendou."

"Nabiki.. that's an odd name.. I guess since you introduced yourself I should as well.. I'm Onna Satomi. Now about those dry clothes.. since you got mine all wet.."

"Onna huh.. that's a really weird name.. anyway come with me and I'll get you some dry clothes like I said I would." starts off to the locker room in the gym, looking behind her to see if the girl is following and see's that she is and keeps walking till they get to the gym's locker room. The girl looks around the room at everything, comparing it to her own school's locker room silently to herself. Nabiki walks down to where her locker is and puts the combination in and opens it up and takes out an extra school uniform, and holds it out to onna.

"Here you can wear this for now."

"Um but this is your school's uniform, and I don't even go here or know you.. why would you do this for me?" Onna gives her a questioning look.

"Well I do usually charge a fee for my generosity, but I like you onna so it's free.. but you have to do something for me." she gives off an evil smirk.

Onna sweatdrop at this. "Jeez your not very nice.. what do you want from me, I should've known by the way you were starring at me back there before that you wanted something from me." takes the uniform and changes out of her wet clothes and into the furikan girls uniform.

"Your quite smart miss satomi, oh I don't want much from you really, just some pictures really." Onna sweatdrop appears on her head again. "Pictures.."

Ranma and Ukyou talk about both of their recent events while sharing a melon bread together, and both have forgotten about the girl, till akane comes barging into the cafeteria with ryouga behind her angry as hell. Akane spots ranma and ukyou sharing food together and grows even more angry, and decides she has come at the right moment. Ryouga also notes ranma and ukyou sittting together sharing food but since ukyou is wearing the girls uniform and has her hair down, he doesn't recognize her.

"Ranma how dare you flirt with another girl when you have akane! I won't forgive you!" Ryouga charges at ranma full speed and takes out his umbrella from his back and tosses it at the table ranma is.

"Ryouga.." Akane has lost all her anger once more.

Ukyou pulls out her huge spatula and slams it into the bamboo umbrella, both the umbrella and spatula grinding against each other, till ukyou put's all her concentration and strength into holding her spatula up against the spinning umbrella and finally overcomes it slamming it into the wall.

"Ryouga you jack ass! How dare you attack me!"

Ranma takes the chance to run off, before akane gets to him or ryouga, right now he just wanted to find the asadiba girl he had totally forgotten, that he left her standing by the doors and now she was no where to be found. He felt guilty really since he had told her that he would help her get back to her group, since he was the one that pulled her away from them.

Akane watches ukyou beat the crap out of ryouga with her gigantic spatula, flatting ryouga into the ground and then she realizes she forgot all about ranma and looks around for him and see's he is no where to be found as usual and grows angry once more.

Meanwhile nabiki sits in the girls locker room with onna and tells her plan to the girl, leaving out certain details knowing that she might object to them if she reveals them right now. She'd tell her about the other details later, so she wouldn't have a chance to change her mind about it later.

"So you see, that's all I want from you onna, I mean since you look so much like ranma."

Onna starts to feels that urge again but shakes it off once more. "But why would you want pictures of me, I'm not a guy.." she is quite confused about how nabiki is talking about ranma.

"No your not, but you see I want pictures of you because you look like ranma's girlside."

Onna sweatdrop at this. "Again he's not a girl that's plain and simple to see.." suddenly realizes that she was supposed to wait in the cafeteria by the doors while ranma looked around for her school's group. "Oh no I left without telling him.. um it was nice meeting you miss tendou but I have to be going now." runs off out of the locker room, and into the hallway looking for the cafeteria and bumps into someone.

"Hey where did you run off to? I told you to wait for me by the doors.." notices the girl is wearing a furikan school uniform, but still has her black boots on, and is holding her school uniform in her hands. "Um why the sudden change of clothes?"

Onna sweatdrop again. "This wacky short brown haired girl splashed me with hot water, getting my clothes all wet.. and then she said I could wear this for now."

"She splashed you.. oh man.." Ranma rubs the back of his head nervously. "She must've thought that you were me.. what was her name?"

"Her name was Nabiki Tendou, yeah she did.. but she kept referring to you as a girl but your not a girl at all."

Ranma laughed nervously at the girl to cover up. "Of course I'm not, she must be crazy.. any ways I think I made you miss your ride back to your school.. I'm really sorry." Onna looks quite upset. "They left without me…"

"Don't uh get upset, I'll um walk you home how about that?"

Onna looks at him somewhat. "Right now?" She blinks.

"Sure if you want, I owe you any ways.. since it is my fault.."

"That's right it is your fault.. so hurry up and take me home." she crosses her arms all upset.

"Ok let's go then."

"Your not going to make me do something in return are you.."

"Huh?" Ranma thinks about it carefully, now that she mentioned it he could indeed use this girl to his advantage, he could use her to team up against his father, but he wasn't sure if she knew how to fight.

Ah yes all Ranma ½ characters are copyrighted © Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty, and Shogukan, Viz video and any others I have forgotten, man how I wish ranma was mine.. oh btw I'm starting a comic on keenspace called Saotome Madness.. I've finally decided to share my ranmaverse only because one of my friends really wanted me to.


	5. Pleased to meet you

Chapter 5: Pleased to meet you

Akane continues looking for ranma for awhile longer and finally gives up and figures why should she care, she had better things to do then worry about him. Of course she was still pissed off, and everyone she passed by in the hallway knew that just by looking at her as she stormed by grumbling. Kuno notes this as she storms by and figures that ranma must've done something to anger his beloved akane tendou, but he was torn between charging off after the fiend or to stay and comfort his beautiful huntress. Kuno shrugs his shoulders deciding to comfort her and embraces her with soothing words only to be punched into orbit.

Ukyou has finished giving ryouga a good beating for trying to pick a fight with her, but now she felt bad for slamming him into the ground repetitively and knelt down near him, putting her spatula back behind her back into it's holder. "Hey I'm sorry for beating you up like that, but that was pretty darn rude how you tried to attack me for being with my best friend.." crosses her arms.

Ryouga after regaining consciousness and seeing the pretty girl before him is really ukyou, becomes quite red in the face and feels like a jerk once more. Again he had wrongly accused a girl of something, and they had really done no harm and this depressed him as usual as he hung his head low.

"No don't apologize I don't deserve such kindness.. I'm sorry I didn't realize it was you ukyou.. I just get so angry and forget about things…"

"Don't we all.." Ukyou rubs her head in embarrassment remembering when she became over excited, how she'd just lash out and slam someone with her gigantic spatula. What boy would think that sort of behavior for a girl is cute she wondered to herself, her face quite red.

Ryouga looks up since ukyou has gotten so quiet, and notices her face is quite red and begins to worry that something is wrong with her.

"Ukyou do you have a fever? You look like your burning up?"

Ukyou snaps out of her thoughts and realizes that her face is glowing bright red and becomes very embarrassed once more, and waves her arms around very quickly saying that she is fine and invites him to her shop to have a free meal since she beat the crap out of him. She then grabs ryouga by the back of his shirt and drags him off with her before he can say no to her offer.

Ranma looks around for any teachers and opens up the door and motions for the girl to follow him outside, and after she's outside the building he decides to ask her the favor he's been thinking about in his mind. It wasn't a big thing so she couldn't possibly get mad at him for atleast asking.

"Well actually yeah.. it's not a big favor though so don't get mad." braces himself for impact.

Onna sweatdrop at this. "Ok then tell me what it is.."

"You see my dad is always annoying me and stealing my stuff and he just thinks he's better then me. So all I want you to do is help me beat him up, of course that is if you can fight.."

"Oh I can fight.. hmm that doesn't seem like a big favor so I suppose I'll help you do that.."

Ranma is quite surprised that she didn't get mad and hit him or yell. "Really?" walking towards the water throwing lady, since he isn't really paying attention to where he's walking.

"Um yeah, why did you think I'd say no or something…"Onna looks off the other way not seeing the lady throw her water and ranma transform into a girl, and keeps walking, thinking about random things. Ranma keeps walking as well too busy being all happy and not realizing the curse had been activated. "Actually yes.. I have a lot of problems with girl's these days.. and I guess I just expect things to go bad.."

Onna stop's walking and stares at the strange redhead girl that's talking to her, like she knows her, then she notices that girl looks like her twin except she is wearing the same clothes that ranma was and her hair is tied up in a pigtail. Ranma-chan notes her starring and realizes she's wet and that she must've changed into a girl and she didn't get the chance to tell Onna about the curse, and waited for her to start yelling that she was a pervert and other things. But to ranma's relief the other girl just starred at her and was very quiet, she looked as if she had seen a ghost. Ranma decided that he had better tell Onna what was going on before she could react further.

Onna was quite confused and shocked by what she was seeing, she didn't know what to do. To run away or to let this girl explain herself to her, yes she would wait for her twin to explain what was going on, running away was not an option. She shook her head about to snap herself out of constantly starring at the other girl, and waited patiently for an explanation. Ranma waited till she seemed like she was ready to listen and then started with her explanation.

"I'm actually ranma, I know it's weird.. and no I'm not a cross dresser ok. You remember when I was talking about jyusenkyo to you back at school in the hall?"

"Your ranma…I suppose that makes sense, you are wearing the same clothes and the same hairstyle your just smaller and a girl." shakes off the weird feeling once more, and the gem beneath her shirt glows very brightly.

"Yes I'm ranma, anways jyusenkyo is this legendary training ground in China, it has pools of water all over the place and my dad knocked me into one of them.. it just so happens it was spring of drowned girl.. So every time I get splashed with cold water I turn into a girl." grumbles and kicks a pebble that's near her foot and wait's for the other girl's reaction.

"Now it makes all sense.. why that girl thought I was you.. and why that fanged boy thought I was you.." she is very quiet for awhile but keeps walking while she is deep in thought, ignoring the gem as it glows brightly. Then she turns to ranma with a thoughtful look on her face. "Now I understand partially why you wanted me to help you beat up your father as well."

"You took that surprisingly well, and yeah I forgot to mention that I accidentally knocked my dad into one of the springs.."

"Still he didn't have to knock you into one as well, usually parent's are more caring in those sort of situations.."

"Hah him caring.. he's done so many uncaring things to me, and of course he covers it up by saying it's for the art.." Ranma grumbles at remembering all the horrible things he had been put through because of his father. "Any ways why don't you come to my house first, you don't want to keep on wearing that school uniform do you? Plus I live with Nabiki so you could return it to her, so she doesn't charge you extra interest on it or something sneaky like that.."

"Ugh you live with her.. well now I feel even more sorry for you. What! She told me I didn't owe her anything this time, just a favor.. but yeah I would like to get out of this old fashioned dress.."

Ranma-chan can't help but laugh at what onna said about the girl's uniform's, and remembers how different her asadaiba uniform was compared it wasn't long and fluttery it was short very short in comparison and cuter. Ranma finds herself blushing abit as she's thinking about the short skirt on the uniform and walks into a telephone pole face first. Onna sweatdrop at the sudden laughter and then ranma smacking face first into the telephone pole, and walks over and yanks her off it. Ranma gives her his thanks and feels quite embarrassed and stupid for doing that.

Ranma and Onna keep walking after the pole incident with ranma talking on about things, and onna listening to the stories her eyes getting wide at some of them. They keep walking till ranma spot's the clinic and stops walking and tells her to wait there for a second, and runs off into the clinic for some hot water. Onna waits outside against the wall watching people stare at her as they walk by.

Not faraway kuno wakes up from his orbit nap, and looks around pulling himself out of the trash pile dusting his kendo outfit off. Then his eyes happen upon the redheaded girl in the furikan girl's uniform. He suddenly remembers he had seen his goddess awhile ago, and she had her beautiful red locks loose, she must've followed him. Kuno walks over to where she is and greets her as usual. "Why my pigtailed goddess, you didn't have to follow me but I'm glad you did."

Onna sweatdrop at the guy talking to her. "I have no idea what your going on about, now leave me alone."

"Come now my goddess you are free from the vile sorcerer's spell, let us celebrate and thank the gods!" sweeps her off her feet and holds her in his arms.

Meanwhile ranma now back as a guy comes walking out of the clinic and see's kuno holding onna, and grumbles to himself and runs at full speed to where kuno is and punches him in the face. Onna jumps out of kuno's arm's and down to the ground, and watches him fall over from the impact that ranma's fist had given him. Ranma mumbles things under his breath and then grabs a bunch of nearby trash bags and puts them on top of the unconscious kuno. "I'm sorry I took so long, and about that idiot.. in case you haven't noticed he likes my girl side.."

"Abit too much."

"Anyways lets go, and I'll explain what were going to do on the way."

Ranma explains to onna on how he wants her to act as they approach the tendou's. Especially how to act to his father, who he describes in detail to the girl so she knows who he's talking about and describes the rest of the people he lives with so she can play the part just right. Onna takes in all the details that ranma tells her, and focuses on the description of genma and ranma's attitude so she understands how to act just like him, and takes her hair and start's braiding it up into a pigtail just like ranma's.

"Wow now you really look like my girlside, aside from the clothes.." Ranma puts his backpack down and goes thru it and pulls out another set of clothes and hands it to her. "Here you should wear these, otherwise the illusion won't work."

Onna stares at the chinese outift abit embarrassed that she has to wear boy clothes, but goes off down an alley and looks around really fast, then changes into the chinese clothing very fast. She folds up the furikan high outfit and sets it ontop of her uniform and holds them both as she comes out from the alley. Ranma just stares in awe, as if he's starring at his double just as a girl then notes her earrings are still on, and tells her to take them off for now and put them and the other clothes into his backpack. He waits for her to do so, and then he tells her to go in through the front door, while he goes in the back door and they'll both surprise his father.

Onna walks in the front door abit embarrassed as a long brown haired girl greets her in a soothing voice, she has an apron on and fluffy dress and her hair was tied back in a bow. She thinks about all the people and their descriptions and other things ranma had told her. "Oh well I wasn't feeling that good kasumi, so they said I could come home early." takes off the chinese shoes's and places them with the other shoes near the doorway, and walks off looking around at the house and the people till she spots the chubby old man with a white cloth around his head playing a game with a another man who had long black hair.

Genma looked up from his game and saw ranma looking at him oddly, and he shifted on his sitting pillow annoyed that his son was a girl again.

"Ranma why is it I always see you as a girl, your supposed to be my son not a girl." grumbles and makes his move on the game board, and waits for his son's reply.

Onna thinks about what ranma had said, and looks all mad at genma like ranma would after hearing that. "And who's fault is that pops.." grabs the cold cup of tea near genma and dumps it on his head and watches as he transforms into a rather large panda, and can't help but laugh. Genma makes angry panda noises at her, and gets ready to attack her. Ranma comes walking in from the porch and starts attacking the panda with no mercy. Soun watches in awe and sips his tea, and then moves his pieces on the game board while genma is busy.

Nabiki comes walking through the front door, and is greeted by kasumi as usual. But what she is focused on is what looks to be ranma's girl side standing there watching ranma and genma as a panda fight. Oh yes she thought to herself that must be onna, but why would she be here? It really didn't matter because now she didn't have to go hunting for her money maker, she was right where she wanted her to be. Nabiki avoids the fighting area and walk's over to where onna is."Hey so you decided to get it over with huh?"

"Um I have no idea what your talking about, I'm just doing a favor for ranma.."

"Come with me if you will, or I could charge you interest on the outfit I lent you." starts walking off to her bedroom quite satisfied at how the day was going for her.

Onna grabs the furikan uniform out from ranma's backpack and follows after nabiki, since she did not want to be charged interest on it and the sooner she got rid of it the better. She walked in the room after nabiki and closed the door like nabiki had asked her to. Nabiki sat down on her bed and motioned for the girl to come over to where she was, as she started pulling out various outfits and other accessories. Onna walked over and sat in the seat near the desk and watched random outfits and makeup and hair things be piled up on Nabiki's bed."Ok lets take some pictures, I mean ranma will be busy fighting with his father for quite awhile. I guarantee we'll be done before they finish, and I won't squeal to genma about your little plan, if you do this for me now."

"Jeez ranma was right about you.. alright I'll do it, but you'd better not go back on your word." crosses her arms as nabiki starts putting her hair up into ponytails on each side of her head, and ties them off with pink bows.

"I won't say a thing as long as you pose the way I want, and dress in what I want." picks out a sun dress outfit and hands it to the girl, and tells her to change into the outfit while she picks out a peachy pink lip stick and pulls out some pink blush and gets it ready.

Onna changes out of the chinese clothing, and puts on the sun dress, and fixes her pony tails and the bows, while nabiki starts putting blush on her face, and then puts the lipstick on her lips and hands her a pair of diamond earrings. While onna is putting them on, nabiki loads her camera's with lots of film smiling the whole time and starts up one of the camera's. She then tells the girl how to pose for this picture and starts to take pictures of onna doing different poses. Oh yes this was a very good day nabiki thought to herself greedily.

Authors notes: Yes I know I can't write, I will eventually find a better way to write it but for now this is how it is. I'm also thinking the next chapter will be quite interesting, and it will involve the devil being angry.

Ah yes all Ranma ½ characters are copyrighted © Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty, and Shogukan, Viz video and any others I have forgotten, man how I wish ranma was mine..

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Bottom of Form 1


	6. Someone's in trouble

Chapter 6: Someone's in Trouble

Satan sits on the couch in his human disguise with his she devil Alley by his side watching through the mirror at the events, he is happy that his creation is getting to know ranma's life and his friends but not happy at how she keep's defying his power. Just thinking about it makes him quite angry as he slams his fist down on the table. "How dare she defy my power.. I made her and I can easily unmake her…" He digs his claws into the couch making large holes in the material. Alley tries to comfort him by rubbing his shoulders, but is pushed away by her master and this greatly hurts her feelings. "Master do not be so hasty to remove her existence, your plan will work out remember you can step in anytime and control her actions with that lovely necklace you created."

Satan strokes his chin thoughtfully, and allows alley to rub his shoulders once again, and gives her a kiss on the cheek for reminding him of this before his anger took place and ruined the whole plan. "Yes my dear you are correct, I'll just punish her greatly when she returns.. and let her know her father is displeased…it is time I take over this free spirit of hers.. she will be my puppet.." he pours himself a glass of wine and stirs it with his claw chuckling to himself and at onna through his mirror.

Nabiki takes one last picture and notes she's run out of film and has used all her camera's, this pleases her greatly now all she had to do was get the film developed and she could start business. She gathers up all the camera's, which are a good amount and opens one of her drawers and lays them inside and closes the drawer for the time being. "There that wasn't so bad, now was it?" she plops back down on her bed again crossing her legs.

Onna blinks a bunch of times trying to overcome all the colorful dots she's seeing from taking so many pictures, in such little time with so many bright flashes and changing into so many different outfits and posing and the different hair styles. She had enough and was ready to tell nabiki, but to her relief it was over for now. "What besides changing so many damn times, and having to follow all the orders you barked out at me.. and now I'll be blind for a good time.." rubs at her eyes, and yawns.

"You said you needed to get back to ranma before he was done fighting with his father, as I see it I did you big favor by not taking a break. Now my fingers really hurt from pushing all those buttons." Nabiki rubs at her sore fingers. Onna is ready to start mouthing off at the girl for her rude words. Here she went and left ranma again because of this girl's nagging and her demands, it was making her very angry and she was loosing her cool very fast. "Now listen here nabiki, you didn't have to change outfits every two minutes, and hair styles every other two minutes.. oh big whoop you pushed buttons, you wouldn't have to push so many damn buttons if you had one camera instead of twenty! As I see it, I'm the one who did you a favor, and your lucky I did." She changes back into the chinese outfit and starts braiding her hair back into a pigtail as she walks out of nabiki's room.

Ranma is still attacking his father, and has made a circle around the house leading his father around. He wondered where onna had run off to, that maybe she had left and was only joking about helping him out. He really needed a break he had been fighting back and forth with his father for a good half and hour, and was starting to get tired. Genma took the chance and tossed ranma head first into the koi pond, and started to walk off. Just as ranma was ready to give up he spotted onna and let her take his place.

Ranma then made his way to the bathroom to take a nice relaxing soak in the tub and rest for awhile.

Genma was almost to the porch when he felt ranma's hands gripping around his furry neck, and he growled at his son letting him know he had enough. Onna smirked at the panda and did a side sweep kick, knocking the large animal down onto the ground and then proceeds to slamming his face into the ground over and over again. Genma makes pathetic panda noises, and looks around for a sign to tell ranma to stop.

Akane has just come home from school, and spots ranma slamming her father's face into the ground out near the koi pond. This alarms her because usually ranma and his father don't spar like that, and she is afraid for mister saotome and runs out onto the porch to break it up. "Ranma stop it! Your father's had enough!" tries to pull ranma off from genma, and gets mad after ranma shoves her down to the ground with one foot, while still slamming genma's head into the ground. Akane gets back up very upset and slaps ranma across the face. "I said STOP!"

Onna glares daggers at the girl, yes she remembered this girl she had started with her back at the school. She glared at the short haired girl, and gave genma's head one last slam into the ground and let go of the panda's neck. Just to assert that she wasn't really listening to the girl, she gave the panda one last sharp kick to the panda's gut making it grunt.

Akane glowers at ranma in anger, she had not seen him for most of the day, and now she comes home to see him brutally beating on his father. But what surprised her the most is the sudden glare ranma was giving her, it made her feel uneasy. She then thought it had to be that girl's fault, he had been talking to her and she must've hypnotized him to do this.

"What is your problem ranma! Just look at what you've done to your poor father.." she kneels down to the panda looking quite upset. "What if you had killed him!"

"So what if I did Akane, you have no right to preach to me about my own father. Besides he can take more then this if he's such a great martial artist's, I mean he brags about it all the time." Onna smirks at her, greatly enjoying how upset the girl looks.

"You've gone too far Ranma! And it's all that girl's fault, she's put some kind of spell on you like before, it wouldn't have happened if you had listened to me in the first place you jerk!" Akane storms off into the kitchen with tears in her eyes and to the sink turning the hot water on, her hand shaking she filled a mug with hot water trying not to burst out crying. Ranma had shoved her and acted so mean to her, how dare he! There was a chance though, if she turned him back to a boy maybe the spell would wear off and he'd be himself again.

Kasumi eyed her sister somewhat, wondering what she was mad at but she was always mad so it wasn't a big deal. Besides she was in her own world as she was happily cooking, and chopping up vegetables. She thought she should ask her little sister to help her cook, even though akane wasn't that good at cooking she thought it would cheer her up.

"Akane would you mind helping me chop up some vegetables for tonight's dinner?" smiles at her sister.

Akane doesn't seem to hear her sister at all, she's too focused on the matter at hand. Her hand still shaking she turns off the facet and grabs the mug ignoring how hot it is, and runs off past her sister to the back porch holding the mug tightly. It just had to work, if it didn't she didn't know what to do. She ran up to ranma and flung the hot water on her. She backed away in fear as she saw there was no change, ranma remained a girl..a very mad girl at the moment.

Onna is extremely pissed at the girl, her red gem necklace glowing very brightly beneath the red shirt, she grabs some cool water from the koi pond and splashes herself quickly to stop the burning feeling. Then she turns her full attention to the shaking girl, and is ready to attack her full on without any mercy when a hand touches her shoulder.

"Now ranma I think that's enough.. I think you should stay away from akane for awhile.." Soun gives the girl a stern look, and then releases his hand from her shoulder and walks off with his arm around his daughter leading her into the house.

Onna grumbles to herself and decides she's had enough of this insanity, and goes back through the house not looking at anyone and goes to where ranma's pack is and takes her things out. Gathering up her belongings, and putting on the borrowed chinese shoe's she walks out of the house and stops as she see's ranma looking out the doorway.

"Hey if you wanted to go home, you should've said something."

Onna suddenly remembers that she has no idea how to get back to her house, from where ever she is and just nods. Ranma notes she looks quite upset and puts on his shoes and goes outside to where she is.

"Come on I'll take you home like I said I would." Ranma stop's remembering he has no idea where she lives. "Um you'll need to tell me where you live, so I can figure out a route."

Onna tells him her address and the town, ranma nods and tells her he knows a short route to that area and they both start walking out of the tendou's. Ranma asks her how the plan went, and listens in interest as she tells him.

"It was all going quite well, until that ugly tomboy butted in, oh and then her father butted in as well, oh and before that nabiki butted in.." Onna grumbles to herself quite annoyed, but keeps walking eager to get back home.

"Well thanks for helping me out, and I'm sorry about nabiki and akane bothering you. But if it's not too much to ask I'd like to do something like this again, well that is if it's alright with you.."

"I'll think about it, right now I just want to go home.." she keeps walking, not looking at ranma or paying attention to much.

Ranma stops walking as they come up to a side street and looks at the numbers. He realized that onna's house wasn't really all that far from his mother's house and got abit nervous at this. Onna notes how nervous ranma is getting as they near her house, and wonders what brought this on. Perhaps he was scared that her parents would be mad at him or something.

Alley peeks out the window and spots onna and a boy talking together near the driveway. She becomes very excited and tells her master of what she see's. Satan smirks evilly as he peers out the window and see's that his creation is indeed with ranma saotome.

"Alley I think it's time that we greet ranma." Satan chuckles to himself quite happily.

"Yes we shall my husband." she smirks and opens up the front door and puts on a smile as she calls out to onna.

Onna smiles as alley opens up the door and calls for her, she turns her attention back to ranma who is still looking very nervous. She giggled abit thinking he was nervous because of alley, and tried to tell him not to be so nervous. "Ranma calm down she's harmless really, she's just over friendly and over happy." slight smile.

"Ooh um yeah no problem, I guess meeting your mom couldn't hurt.. but lets make it really fast…"

Onna smiles at him and nods, and leads him up the driveway towards the front door where alley is. She stops short when a man comes outside and calls to her as well, for a minute she feels very nervous, like ranma shouldn't meet him. She can't exactly tell why, and this bothers her. She decides that she should follow this feeling, since it is very strong.

"Um maybe another time.. we'll we know where each other lives so.. if you need me or I need you for something, but you also know which school I go to so that's a better way of contacting me.. you should go home now. But thanks for walking me back here." She runs off up the driveway and past alley and satan into the house really fast.

Ranma is quite surprised as the two parents suddenly stare at him for a second and then the front door slams shut, he didn't even really get to say goodbye to her. He then thought as he started walking off at how weird she had been acting when she saw the man, oh well it was none of his business. Now he just wanted to get away from this area, it held too many memories and he wanted to go see his mother but he knew it wasn't a good idea. The longer he stayed in the area, the more tempting the idea became and he couldn't have that. He leapt up onto the fence and started running at full speed to get away.

Alley tried to talk to onna, but the girl just ran past her off to her room closing the door. This annoyed her at how close they had been to having ranma in there grasp and she had ruined it for them. Satan put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her, telling her that he was happy and he would handle the girl's discipline. Alley calmed down and smiled and went off to the kitchen to cook something up for the occasion.

Onna flopped on her bed and just laid there for awhile starring at the ceiling in a daze. She thought to herself the same thing over and over, why did she feel like that when she saw that man.. that she felt that something would happen if ranma came into her house. Why did she feel this way, she keep thinking about it constantly as she drifted off to sleep.

As she slept images flooded her mind, horrible images.. First she saw herself coming out from a cauldron and her eyes opened as red sprints of light pierced themselves into her skin, she felt the pain as each individual light went into her. Then she looked around somewhat out of it and saw a red creature with ivory horns taking his hand out of another creature and the bright red liquid that spilled from the other creature. Then the red creature took one of his claws and sliced his arm with it spilling some of his own blood, then he rubbed his blood in with the other creature's blood and a bright flash appeared and took the form of a red gem.

Satan entered Onna's bedroom in his true form and watched her toss and turn, and make painful noises. A sinister smile crept across his face as he watched her for a moment, then decided that he would wake her for her punishment. He walked over to the bed and leaned in close enough to her ear and whispered her name.

Onna's eyes suddenly snapped open full of tears, and she wiped them away looking around the room half awake for whoever had woken her up. Then her eyes get very wide as she see's the red creature from her dream smiling at her wickedly. She tried to get up and run, but her red gem on her necklace glowed brightly, so brightly that it burned her skin and she was unable to move as the red creature grabbed her by the neck and slammed her up against the wall. Onna tried to call out alley's name, but she found she could barely speak having the gigantic red hands grasped around her tiny neck. She felt all alone but then she saw alley come in, and she smiled somewhat and tried to call to her again. Then the most horrifying thing possible happened right before her eyes, Alley peeled off her skin and dropped it to the floor and there in her place was another red creature smirking at her just like the other one.

Alley walked up to where Satan was holding onna by her neck up against the wall, and leaned on Satan's shoulder letting the girl see another wickedly evil smile creep across her face. "So should we tell our sweet girl the truth?"

Satan gave alley a satisfied smirk, "Yes I believe we shall my servant."

Authors note's: Hopefully this chapter will answer some of your questions, and as for the next chapter will it's not going to be very pretty is all I can say.

Maybe later I'll draw up some Devil's Child fanart if I feel like it.

Ah yes all Ranma ½ characters are copyrighted © Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty, and Shogukan, Viz video and any others I have forgotten, man how I wish ranma was mine..


	7. No Escape

Chapter 7: No Escape

Onna's eyes go wide as one of the gigantic red hands grabs her face harshly and the finger's tighten their hold around her chin while the other hand, is still gripping her throat tightly. She hung her head low and turned her gaze away from the demonic looking creatures and down to the floor waiting to die. Her one and only guardian who she had trusted and loved was nothing, she was deceiving her all this time.. there was no alley. She felt her existence in this world was worth nothing, as she remembered the flashbacks from her dream. Then it finally hit her why she looked just like ranma as a girl, and she felt like dying even more now.

Satan tightened his hold around her chin, and made her bring her face up and look at him. Alley stood by Satan and watched with glee as he punished the girl, by taking the glowing red gem and pushing it into her skin burning her all the while, by still gripping her against the wall with one arm. Alley decided to rip apart whatever feelings if any were left and came forward.

"You see child this is what you get for not listening to your orders." she looks over to Satan up into his eyes as if to ask permission, and smiled as Satan nodded his head. She had her answer and flexed her gigantic steel like claws and sliced her claws into the girls arm, while laughing and then teased her by running her claw down and up her arm and then digging deep down into the open wound making her scream out.

Satan decided that for now this was enough punishment, and called alley off and then tossed the girl back onto the bed with one hand. He kneeled down besides the bed where the girl was in shock, and didn't move she just starred off into nothingness. "Now my child, you will do my bidding whether you like it or not.. but to be fair I will let you keep your free will, but as soon as you leave this house your free will disappears and I have control. Now if you would like to keep what little free will you have, then I suggest you follow my orders." He notes she's still shaking and looking off into nothingness. "Forgive my rudeness I should at least explain to you my plan, your reason for being here. As you may have figured out you were made to look just like Ranma Saotome's cursed form, I used his DNA to make you exactly like him so you my dear can frame him." Again he notes she's still shaking and starring off still and becomes a bit irritated by this. "Simply put you have no choice in the matter, tomorrow you will not be going to school, we have bigger plans." With what he wanted said he gets up and walks out of the room with alley closing the door behind him, leaving the girl to cry in misery.

Ranma enters the house taking off his shoes, only to have soun give him a dissatisfied look. Then he see's his father getting bandaged up by kasumi, who is also giving ranma a rather weird look. Ranma expects akane to come running over and bash him for anything and everything under the sun, but she hasn't she doesn't seem to be around at the moment. Then he finally decides to break the silence that is all around him. "Mr Tendou why are you looking at me like that? I always give my pop's a run for his money, when were training."

"I think you went abit far with that.. and as for what you did to akane, there is no excuse for shoving her when she was only concerned about you." Soun starts wailing on and on about his poor little girl.

Ranma is quite confused by the turn of events, he tried to picture what exactly had happened while he was taking a break and let Onna continue the fight for him. He finally figured out what happened, that akane must've come home and seen who she thought to be ranma beating on his father and tried to break it up. He wasn't terribly upset about it since Onna had only shoved her, and probably because she was barging in where she shouldn't have been. Anyway's it worked out for him, now he had peace for awhile no akane constantly bugging him, and his dad couldn't do too much at the moment either. He deserved to have time to himself without being bothered, and so he went off to his room.

Satan sat at the kitchen table drumming his fingers against the table impatiently, while sipping his coffee and watching the clock on the wall. The girl had cried herself to sleep last night and had still not moved from the spot she was all curled up in, it was now the next morning the day that he would put his plans into effect. He had enough of this behavior, and got up out of the chair and kicked the door open and grabbed her arm and jerked her off the bed onto the floor. "It's time to get up whether you like it or not.. you have five minutes to get ready and be in the kitchen." and with that he walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Onna managed to pull herself up off the floor and sit herself on the edge of her bed, still starring down at the floor she slammed her fist as hard as she could into the wall making her hand bleed and then she felt it as the pain from her wound on her arm shot up her arm from the impact. She really didn't care about that as she fixed her hair and started to tie it into a pigtail just like her twins. She felt she had no control over anything, she was indeed just a toy robot. She got up off the bed wiping the remaining tears from her eyes and put on the chinese shoes, and walked out of her room towards the kitchen her head down as she passed by the she devil.

Satan looked up from the newspaper he was reading while he had been waiting for the girl, he noticed she was not happy at all but he didn't really care as long as she listened to him. He smirked in satisfaction at how much she looked like ranma, now being in the same clothes ranma wore.

"Please sit have some breakfast before we start today's mission."

Onna sits down faraway from him not looking at him or the other one, and starts to eat her breakfast quietly. Satan puts his newspaper down, at seeing this and gets up out of his seat and walks over to the girl putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'll tell you what my child, since you did listen to me somewhat I'll restore your free will abit more, and you can keep it, as long as you obey me. Is that clear?" Onna nodded her head, but still wouldn't look at Satan or Alley.

Ranma gets up and see's his father sleeping soundly on the other futon. He got up and started to get dressed into his regular chinese outfit, and fixed his hair somewhat and left the room only to bump into akane. Akane doesn't look at ranma and runs off downstairs in a huff to the table. Ranma decides to ignore her, otherwise she'd probably start yelling at him if he tried to help her. He also decided he'd go to U-chan's for breakfast to get away from everyones wrath, and with that he went downstairs and put his shoes on and left the house heading for u-chans.

Ukyou had invited ryouga over the day before, and she was always alone so she had asked him to stay over her place for the night. Of course she made up another futon for ryouga and when they had gone to the public baths, she went to the girls side and he went to the guys side. She yawned and looked over to where ryouga was still sleeping and smiled at how cute he looked sleeping, oh well she had to get up and get ready for school. She got up and changed into her boys uniform, deciding that today she'd wear the usual, she got less attention when she wore this one. She was a girl though, so she would also wear the girl uniform, but every now and then she needed a break from all the attention it gave her. Ukyou made her way downstairs to the shop area and decided to make herself a quick breakfast, when she heard a knock on the door. Who would be here so early she thought to herself as she opened the door.

Ranma stood there in the doorway rubbing his head nervously, he didn't realize that ukyou's shop wasn't always opened. But he forgot that as he saw the cute smile spread across ukyou's face as she set her eyes on him.

"Ranma Huney what brings you here so early?"

"Sorry U-chan I forgot that your shop isn't open this early, but I really wanted some of your cooking."

Ukyou blushed at what he said. "That's alright I was just going to make myself some breakfast, so why don't you join me."

"Thanks a lot U-chan, your the best." Ranma walks in after Ukyou and sits down in one of seats next to the grill, and watches ukyou prepare everything, and start cooking. Ranma sits and smells the aroma of the food as it cooks, with a smile on his face the whole time.

Satan explains to onna what he wants her to do, and shows her who to go after. He also make's sure that she understands her position and rank, and tells her that from now on she will call him master, unless she has an outsider in the house then she will call him dad. He also points out that he will be controlling her actions somewhat, till he see's that she can do things on her own, and if she does things wrong there will be consequences. She nods as he tells her everything she needs to know, and gets up from the table and walks to the front door and leaves the house.

She shielded her eyes at the sun, and started walking in the direction of the nekohanten café, remembering the map and directions that Satan had told her. She still had her head down as she walked towards her first destination, she wondered how her friend Ivory back at school was doing since they had been separated yesterday. She wondered if she'd ever be allowed to go back to school, oh he'd let her go back to school but probably not Asadaiba since Ranma didn't go there. It was all about ranma now wasn't it, that's why she had to do such low things. As she walked she grew angry thinking about how alley had given her the hideous wound on her right arm, she had shared her feelings and everything with that thing she called a guardian. She wasn't going to let that creature get away with what she had done to her, if her heart had to be broken then she'd have to break the creature's as well.

Shampoo started to get things ready in the restaurant, since preparing for the day took a long time she always started early. She started by taking the clean dishes out and laying them out where they could get at them easily when they needed to. Then she went outside and started to clean the door frame, when she saw her airen in girl form walking up towards her. Shampoo was so happy that ranma had come to see her.

"Aiyah Airen come to see Shampoo, it makes me so very happy." runs towards ranma and glomps onto her.

Onna eyes the girl for a second and remember the images Satan had showed her, and ranma's stories he had been telling her. Then her red gem lit up brightly and her mind was flooded with images and memories, these must be ranma's memories she thought to herself. Her attention goes back to shampoo who is clinging to her all happy.

"Well why wouldn't I Shampoo, you know I love you the most."

"Aiyaaa Ranma really means it! Shampoo knew you liked me the most." cuddles and snuggles against Onna affectionately.

Mousse peered through the doorway and his hair bristled at what he heard and saw. There was his shampoo and Ranma professing each other's love to one another, how dare he pull something like this. He would not just sit back and watch his beloved shampoo be taken away from him.

"Ranma Saotome how dare you take my woman!"

Onna eyes the boy with glasses and long black hair and chinese outfit as well, and the memories flood through her head again, memories of mousse. She then grabs the bucket near the door and flings the contents on mousse laughing evily. Shampoo has another bucket ready in her hands, but puts it down as she realizes ranma beat her to it.

"Ranma protect shampoo from Mousse? I thought you try to defend him.."

Onna smirks at the purple haired girl known as Shampoo. "Why would I, he wants to take you away from me."

Shampoo blushed and glomped back onto Onna snuggling up against her all happy. "We tell great grandmother yes?"

Onna smiles at her. "Of course you can tell her, I have to be going now Shampoo but I'll be back." Give's shampoo a wink and then leaps up onto the fence and starts running off to her next destination.

Nabiki gathered her developed film together, and the copies putting them carefully into her backpack and then heads off to school thinking of all the money she'll make today. She notices akane walking far behind her looking quite angry, and since she's in a good mood she decides to try to be nice.

"Akane you seem upset, is everything ok with you?"

Akane is interrupted from her thoughts as her older sister talks to her. "No did you hear the way ranma was acting yesterday? She shoved me! Ranma would never do that!"

"Actually Akane ranma always shoves you out of the way, usually when he feel's your in trouble. So he probably didn't want you getting in the middle of the fight that's all."

"But she shoved me with her foot! Ranma has never done that before.. even as a girl.."

"Maybe you just put ranma in a bad mood, you know how girls get." Keeps walking towards the school very happy at seeing kuno, which she usually isn't unless she has business to do with him.

Akane thinks about what her sister had just said, it did make sense after all. She was very surprised that she hadn't been charged yet, she waited for nabiki to say she owed her for her time but she didn't say anything. She was abit worried about it but decided not to say anything, if she did she would surely be charged for reminding her sister about it.

"Well Akane it's been fun but I have things to do." Nabiki walks off rather fast towards the kendo club, leaving akane far behind. She knocks on the door to the kendo club and waits unpatiently tapping her foot. Finally the door is opened and she goes inside. Kuno is sitting on some sitting pillows with his eyes closed in the direction of his large posters of the pigtailed girl and Akane Tendou. "What is it you want Nabiki Tendou.. can't you see that I'm busy.."

"Oh I guess you don't want pictures of the pigtailed girl then." She starts to head for the door smirking to herself, knowing kuno will want them no matter what.

"Pictures! Hah I already have those so called pictures.." he crosses his arms and looks at the posters on the wall.

"Oh I don't think you've seen these pictures yet." Pulls one of the sexy ones out from her pocket and flashes in front of kuno's face really fast.

Kuno face faults into the ground, and gets back up really fast.

"She is so radiant more then usual, I must have that picture nabiki tendou.. name your price.."

Authors notes: There we go, now things are really heating up abit and will continue to in the next chapter.

Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty, Shogukan, Viz video and any others I have forgotten, man how I wish ranma was mine..


	8. Feelings

Chapter 8: Feelings

Onna jumped down off the fence and landed gracefully onto the ground, in what looked like an empty lot. Then the memories flooded through her head as she spotted a simple tent, the red gem lit up brightly. She walked over to the tent and peered inside at the contents. In the corner of the tent were ramen cups piled up in a rather large pile, no one seemed to be using the tent at the moment. She got down on all fours and crawled into the tent and grabbed a bunch of the ramen cups and brought them outside setting them down next to her as she sat on the ground.

Grabbing a nearby stick she has spotted and started to dig into the ground till she found a good amount of earth worms, then she popped open part of each of the ramen cups just enough to be able to put something small inside. She picked up a good handful of the worms, and dropped two or three at a time into each small opening in all the cup covers she had made. With her hands she smoothed the covers back down as best she could, and returned them to where they were inside the tent. She couldn't help but giggle at her dirty work, but of course she felt guilty but couldn't show it since she was being watched and with that she walked off to her next destination.

After they had both finished their breakfast Ukyou and Ranma started off towards the school, they walked side by side talking about different things together. Ukyou had never felt happier, not that she could think of at the moment. She also thought she had forgotten about something, but she was too happy to remember. At last she was enjoying a quiet moment with the man she loved, with no interruption from any of the other fiancés. Ranma felt the same way she did, because he seemed very happy as they walked into the school yard.

Akane stopped walking as she spotted Ranma and Ukyou smiling at one another. She found herself getting very angry as she looked at the two, and stormed up to them. "Ranma where the hell have you been! First you tried to make me think you were permanently stuck as a girl, and now your hanging all over Ukyou!"

Ranma stopped smiling as Akane appeared and started to rant up a storm, about everything she had on her mind. But the part that had caught his attention was the permanent part, he would eventually have to let Akane know about his plan. Of course then it would be spoiled since she wouldn't keep her mouth shut about it. He decided he had a lot of advantages working with Onna is secret and to keep it that way. "Jeez Akane calm down, I didn't try to make you think anything. If you had asked I would've been able to tell you that Shampoo used one of her tricks on me by accident."

Akane listened to Ranma's excuse and tried to give it some thought like Nabiki had told her awhile ago. "I guess that makes sense, but if I find out your lying about this, you'll be sorry.." Akane started to walk off towards her class room, not giving ranma a second thought.

Meanwhile Nabiki stringed kuno along slowly as she teased him with each new picture. Flashing it front of his face quickly and then pulling it back just as quick. She waited for him to start naming prices for each picture, but as she looked at her watch and noted the time she would have to make this fast, or chance a skipped class. "Kuno baby I don't have all day, are you going to buy them or what?"

Kuno glared at her. "I haven't really seen much of them, you flash them by so quickly. Now if I could gaze at them, without them moving that'd be a different story." Nabiki shrugged her shoulders and laid down a good amount of the photo's near kuno, but not too close so she could snatch them back. "Like I said Kuno baby, I don't have all day so make it quick or we'll have to continue this later."

Kuno gazed upon the beauty in the pictures, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. He wondered what had gotten into his pigtailed goddess, why she suddenly started to dress more like a girl and pose differently. Oh well it wasn't as if this was a bad thing, he found he really liked seeing her wearing different hair styles and pretty dresses. Finally he decided. "I shall take them all, I have never seen my pigtailed goddess like this." He started to write out a check to Nabiki, but couldn't help it as he stared intently at the pictures on the ground.

Nabiki noted this as well as she looked at the amount of money on the check, she was quite pleased at the price. "Thankyou Kuno baby, but I do have more pictures to show you. At the moment though I have to be getting to class." She grabs the written check from kuno and runs off towards the school building.

Ryouga opened his eyes and looked around the small room. He stretched his arms into the air and pulled himself out of the covers. That's right he had spent the night at Ukyou's, only because she had insisted upon it. He looked around the room for her, and suddenly remembered she had school to attend unlike him. That's where she must be, and she probably thought that it'd be rude to wake him up so she didn't. He got up and walked downstairs into the restuarant area and looked on the counter seeing an extra okonomiyaki on the grill.

Ryouga blushed furiously and started to laugh nervously. She had cooked him an extra helping, he felt happy but also very embarassed. He figured he should eat it since she had gone through all that trouble for him. He sat down on a chair and started to eat quickly. No sooner had he started he was finished and got up and walked out the back door, he ran as fast as he could towards his temporary home in the lot.

He skidded to a stop as he arrived in the vacant lot where his tent was. He felt so embarrassed and guilty about being alone in ukyou's restaurant that he had to get away. Being back at his tent he began to calm down, and headed inside to his futon where he flopped down and grabbed one of his ramen cups. Even though he had eaten he was still very hungry, not that the okonomiyaki wasn't good it was wonderful. He pulled out a banged up kettle from his pack in the corner and went outside to go find some water.

Onna walked with her head down, as she neared the Asadaiba school, she stopped and glanced at it for a few moments. Satan's voice echoed through her head and told her to keep going or there would be consequences. She sighed taking one last look at the school and started walking off toward's the Tendou Dojo as instructed. As she walked in the direction of the Tendou's dojo, she wondered what her friend Ivory was thinking about and doing. Ivory had been her first and only friend she had made at her school, she wanted to be more of a friend to her but she really couldn't at the moment.

Ivory sat outside on the stair steps near one of the back doors of the school, as she sipped her tea and watched people pass by the school yard. The class she had been in was so boring without her friend, she wondered why she hadn't come to school today. Many thought's crossed her mind, but as she was thinking she saw a redhaired girl go by with her head down. Her eyes widened as she saw the girl who walked by. Getting up she started to run after the girl and called out to her friend. "Hey Onna!"

Onna stopped walking and looked around and fear hit her as Ivory raced towards her. She just stood there unsure of what to do, if she didn't listen to her orders she'd be punished. Also she didn't want to chance getting her new friend hooked up in any of this, but she couldn't just run off from her now. Thinking about the matter as her friend ran up to her and hugged her, perhaps she could hang out with Ivory for awhile and then go back to what she was supposed to do. "Oh hey Ivory."

Ivory had her hands on her hips looking upset. "What's with the not coming to school thing huh? You don't look sick to me at all, and why are you wearing clothes just like Ranma.. for a second there I couldn't tell if it was you or him." Onna smiled at her somewhat. "I guess I felt like it, and I'm sorry but I have other things to do so I'm not going to school for awhile." She started to walk off.

Ivory grabbed her by the shoulder. "Why don't I skip with you then, whatever you've got to do I wouldn't mind helping you."

Onna shakes her head lightly and takes the girl's hand off her shoulder. "No I need to do these things by myself." Ivory's attention shifted to the horrible wound on her friends right arm, it looked like some animal had slashed at her arm repeatedly. "Oh my god girl, what happened to your arm?"

Onna looked over to what ivory was so upset about. "Oh this.. yeah my cat scratched me up pretty good, sorry but I need to be going now."

Ivory wrinkled up her nose finding it very hard to believe that a cat did all that, but decides not to argue about it. "Atleast let me wrap it up for you, then I'll let you be on your way." She pulled her purse off her shoulder and fumbled around till she found a handkerchief and starts to tie it around her friends arm where the wound is. "Goodluck with whatever it is you have to do, and call me on my cell phone once in awhile ok." She pulled out a piece of paper and pen from her purse and scribbled her number down, then handed it to her friend. Onna grasped the paper in her hand tightly and waved goodbye to her friend and started walking off. "Thankyou for understanding Ivory, I'll try to call you if I get a chance."

She stops walking as she nears the Tendou Dojo, and sighed to herself as she looked at the Hello Kitty handkerchief tied around her arm. Hopefully she wouldn't be instructed to take it off, it made her feel somewhat better since her friend had given it to her. She shook her head as she tried to forget all the mean things she had just done, and now she would have to do another one. This life of that she had been given was very unfair, the more she dwelled on it the more she wanted to die. Of course she'd never be allowed to do such a thing, no he'd never let her get away with that. She walked up to the front door of the house and entered it.

Kasumi looked up from her cleaning, as she spotted ranma in his girl form walking inside. "Oh hello ranma, do you feel alright today?"

Onna looked up at the girl. "No the school nurse sent me home early again Kasumi." She walked past her and eyed the sliding doors that lead to happosai's room, and slide them open as she stepped into the room, closing the door's behind her.

Happosai looked up at Ranma while he sorted through his collection. It surprised him greatly that his student had willingly entered his room. He noticed though that Ranma looked upset as he studied her face.

"What seems to be the problem my boy?"

Onna sits down near happosai. "Nothing at all master happosai, I just decided that it's foolish to go against you."

Happosai's eyes widened at what ranma had just said. "So you mean you'll put on the bra's that I've gotten for you, and the silky darlings?"

He watched as ranma nodded her head in agreement, he almost face faulted into the ground after hearing what ranma had to say. "Alright then get to it, if you really mean it." He watched again as ranma unbuttoned her shirt and slipped it off, and picked up the bra that he pointed out and slide it on into place. Happosai was amazed at this sudden change in behavior and liked it. "It's about time you listen to your master, you'll make a great student of the anything goes martial arts." He jumped up and glomped onto ranma's breast's and snuggled into them.

Onna blushed as the little old man glomped her breasts and snuggled them, she had done the task that had been instructed and it was time to leave, she pulled happosai off her chest gently and set him down on the floor.

"Forgive me master happosai but I have some things I need to do, we'll continue this later." While she talked to him she pulled the shirt back on and buttoned it up getting up. Happosai nodded. "Since you were so nice about it, and didn't defy your master I'll let you continue your training later."

Onna smiled at the litte old man as she walked out of the room and out the front door of the house.

Alley waited in the front doorway as Satan had instructed her to do, though she wished he was there with her. He had other important things he had to do, and he had told Alley what he wanted done. She remembered how he had assured her that he would come back shortly, and hoped he would come back quickly. She had made an enemy out of the girl she was supposed to watch over, and now she had to try to fix it. For all she cared, she'd rather abuse the girl once again but she had been given her orders and had to follow them whether she wanted to or not. With that thought she watched as the girl walked up the driveway with her head down. Alley has her human disguise on and she faked a smile at the girl, since the neighbors were around. "Why hello dear, back from school so early?"

Onna walked past her and slammed the door shut, she didn't want any of the neighbor's listening in or to pretend for them. She lifted her head and glared at Alley. "You can stop the fake act now." Alley smirked at what the girl had said. "Your right dear, now listen and listen good, I don't like you and never have I just do whatever he commands me to do."

Onna sneered back at the she devil. "You still have to pretend that were a family though, so why not make your daughter something to eat."

Alley growled quietly and walked into the kitchen and started to prepare something for the girl. While alley is preoccupied, onna eyed the necklace around her fake guardian's neck, and she remembered how she killed the girl back at school. She stepped into the kitchen silently to where Alley cooked, and reached up and grabbed the back of her necklace tightly and yanked it so the chain tightened it's hold against Alley's neck. Alley coughed and turned her head to see the girl behind her. Her eyes widened as she felt she couldn't breathe anymore as the she felt the chain tighten and pushed down onto her wind pipes. Onna smirked at Alley and yanked the chain as tight as possible and watched as her victim clattered to the floor, then she kneeled down and grabbed Alley's head and twisted it till a sickening snap is heard, as the neck breaks.

Satan stepped out of shadows in the corner and applauded. "Well done my child, your hatred grows more each day it seems." He knelt down to where Alley's dead body laid on the floor and pushed some hair out of her face.

Onna eyes widened as she spotted Satan and wondered if she'd be punished for her action. Satan smiled at the girl. "I didn't much like her, so no harm done. But I will have to replace her." He noted the girl wasn't looking at him at all, and this bothered him greatly. "Are you mad at your master for any particular reason? I'm sure you are, but I have to tell you that I'm a little angry at you as well." Onna looked up at him. "You have no reason to, I did what you ordered me to do." Satan grabbed her by the neck and slammed her up against the refrigerator as he growled. "You took your sweet time, and stopped to talk to your friend, you thought I'd let that go didn't you!"

Nodoka took her afternoon stroll around the neighborhood, and looked around at the house's as she walked. She stopped suddenly as she heard yelling and followed where it was coming from, then her eyes widened greatly as she looked through the large windows of one house. She saw a man slamming a red head girl against the refrigerator repetitively, and that the girl was wearing the same clothing that Ranko wore. What if that girl inside was Ranko, she quickly decided to take action regardless. She ran up to the front door and checked if it would open, and to her relief the door opened.

Nodoka pulled the cloth that covered her katana off, and gripped it tightly as she raced into the kitchen. "Let the child go!" She waited for the man to say something or if he had listened to what she had said. The man kept slamming the girl who looked like Ranko against the appliance, she had to take action and with that she charged and slashed into the man's arm with her katana's sharp blade. She watched as he yelled out in pain and dropped the girl to the floor. Nodoka took the chance and picked the girl up off the floor and slung her over her shoulder, then she raced out of the house with her katana readied in her hand to attack if the man pursued them. She fled the area quickly as she carried the unconscious girl to her house.

As they reached the house, nodoka laid the girl down on the ground while she opened up her door and then she picked her back up and carried her inside. After setting the girl down on a futon, she ran back towards the front door and closed the sliding doors, and locked them. She finally laid the katana down and put it back into it's sheath. Kneeling down by the girl she studied her face and she knew it must be Ranko, but why would the girl's father have abused her so harshly. She shamed Soun silently for letting the girl go back to such living conditions. Then she noticed that the girl was waking up, and looked relieved. "Hello Ranko." She smiled at the girl.

Onna looked around and noticed a woman with reddish brown hair was kneeling besides her. She wondered what had happened, all she could recall was Satan slamming her into the refrigerator and then nothing. After thinking for awhile about what had happened she hears the woman saying a name she recalls from Ranma's memories. That's right she recalled ranma's memories and found that this was Ranma's mother and she knew ranma's girl side by the name of Ranko, and she really couldn't tell her the truth. So again she had to play along. "Auntie Saotome.. what are you doing here?"

Nodoka reached out with her hand and placed it against the hello kitty handkerchief with a worried expression. "Ranko what happened to your arm? I'm sorry dear but your father if that's who he was, was hurting you and I was on my afternoon stroll through the neighborhood and I heard the yelling."

Onna became abit annoyed at the woman for sticking her nose in. "You should've minded your own business Mr's Saotome.." She looked away from the woman. Nodoka pushed past the girl's rudeness, her main concern was the state she was in. "I apologize Ranko, but you were in trouble. Enough about that, I want you to soak in the bath alright, so we'll have to take this necklace off." She pulls the red gem necklace off around the girls head and lays it somewhere before she can object.

Onna eyes widened as the woman pulled the necklace off her, she felt very odd not wearing it but she was in too much pain to go after it. So she decided if she didn't listen to Ranma's mother, she probably wouldn't get her necklace back. "Alright auntie Saotome.. I'll soak in the bath.."

Nodoka smiled and lifted the girl up and walked off with her to the bathing area. It had been awhile since she had a child to care for, and she was not about to let the girl go back home.

Author's notes: Yeah I'm sure I made some mistakes again, and in the next chapter you can kinda tell what's going to happen without me saying anything.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, Kitty, Shogukan, and Viz video and whoever else I forgot.


	9. Torn

Chapter 9: Torn

**Key**

chibi- small

furo-japanese bath tub

bento-japanese lunch box

katana-japanese sword

Onna greatly objected to being carried off to the washing room, but Nodoka blissfully ignored the struggling young girl's growing protest, happy to finally have someone to take care of, somebody whom she often secretly wished for as a daughter. With a smile, she gently laid the girl down on the floor, before starting to cheerfully undress the young thing, seeing a chibi version of Onna in her mind, while pretending that the young girl was her own small child. Unable to escape the clutches of Nodoka, Onna blushed furiously as the older woman proceeded to undress her, all the while humming a cheerful tune.

"It's alright Auntie Saotome, I can get in by myself." she protested.

Nodoka smiled softly at the girl, before pulling off her own clothing.

"Actually Ranko dear, I thought I might be joining you," she said, as Onna nodded shyly, blushing while growing ten shades redder. She didn't see any way that she could refuse this woman, given the current situation, so she just shrugged her shoulders and sighed as both women entered the furo together.

Nodoka watched the girl thoughtfully, at first admiring Ranko's beautiful form. It was a pity that the girl had to be such a tomboy she thought. Her daydreams of giving Ranko a proper makeover and setting her up on a date with a fine young man were abruptly interrupted, as Nodoka took note of the bruises covering the poor girl's back.

"Ranko why don't you let me scrub your back for you," Nodoka said with a hint of concern in her voice.

Onna nodded slightly and moved closer to the woman. She closed her eyes as sharp pain coursed throughout her body, nearly causing her to faint, as Nodoka began to scrub her back. Nodoka face grew grim as she noticed Onna was in a lot of pain.

"Ranko dear, does it really hurt so badly? Perhaps it would be better if I took you to see a doctor," she said as she winced at Ranko's injuries, before starting to smile again to make the young girl feel better.

Onna looked at the woman thoughtfully, her eyes filled with wonder. No one had ever been this kind to her at home. Her false parents didn't seem to care whenever she got injured, as long as she stayed in line and the injuries weren't too life threatening. Nodoka froze and stopped smiling as she saw the young girl begin to cry. Onna quickly became embarrassed realizing that she had shown a sign of weakness to Nodoka and grew stern, wiping her tears away, as if they didn't matter. Nodoka noticed the girl's reaction, guessing what she must be thinking, and moved closer to Onna, tightly embracing her into her arms.

"It's alright Ranko, let it all out. It's not good for you to hold in your feelings like that," she soothed the young girl. Onna's eyes widened at how kind and loving this woman was being to her, before she knew it she fell into a warm embrace and cried loudly about everything she had pent up.

Meanwhile as lunch began at Furikan, Ranma walked off towards the bread shop with Hiroshi and Daisuke. Akane watched them out of the corner of her eye, till they disappeared out of sight. She then pulled out her bento that Kasumi had lovingly prepared for her. Ukyou pulled out her own bento that she had made, and looked over at Akane's seeing how good Akane's lunch was. She snickered knowing that it had to be Kasumi who made it, remembering the small fire in the kitchen Akane created the last time she tried to microwave a can of peas. Ukyou quickly decided to roll her eyes, wondering just how Ranchan could prefer this uncute fiancée over her. She let out another comforting snicker, remembering how Akane had tried to put out the fire with a bottle of cooking oil.

As Akane turned her head, Ukyou controlled her snickering, while she continued to look at Akane's bento. Akane noticed this and raised an eyebrow, but decided not to say anything. Akane was too deep into her own thoughts to worry about the spatula carrying chef. Ukyou meanwhile had a strange urge to whistle a tune while holding her hands behind her back.

"_Jeez Akane calm down, I didn't try to make you think anything. If you had asked I would've been able to tell you that Shampoo used one of her tricks on me by accident."_ she remembered him saying, also remembering how nervous Ranma looked as he said it. She huffed knowing that the baka must have lied to her. The jerk never was good at lying, she thought as she cracked her fingers, while suddenly remembering the girl from Asadaiba High. She thought about how the girl looked exactly like Ranma's girl side.

"That's it, Ranma and that hussy must've planned this." she thought while crushing her bento box. Ukyou started eating, before watching Akane storm by, heading out the classroom, leaving a strong gust of wind in her wake. Ukyou shrugged her shoulders and decided not to dwell on it, knowing like the rest of the class that Ranma probably was in trouble again with his angry fiancée.

Ranma and his two friends were eating lunch on the rooftop for a change, instead of the classroom. As they sat, they talked about various things, although most of Hiroshi and Daisuke conversation were perverted guy things that Ranma didn't fully understand. Hiroshi was excited about something in particular.

"Hey yo Daisuke, did you get a hold of any of those pictures? You know the ones Nabiki had been selling?" He questioned.

Daisuke nodded at Hiroshi, while munching on a piece of bread, before laying down a pile of photo's. Ranma's jaw dropped as he spotted his girl side posing in some very provocative positions, wearing many different hairstyles and outfits. Hiroshi and Daisuke looked at Ranma, wondering what he was so upset about, since it was obvious that he had posed for those pictures.

At the very moment Ranma started to get up, the door slammed open, revealing a very angry and glowing tomboy. The tomboy then started stomping towards him, with murder in her eyes. Ranma hung his head down low and sighed, deciding to take his punishment like a man.

Akane stormed up to Ranma, holding a bucket of water she got from a janitor, who had fled upon seeing her stomp down the hallway, and tossed the contents of it onto Ranma.

"Ranma," she said very slowly and loudly, "How dare you lie to me. I want answers and I want them now"

Ranma-chan grumbled, pulling the bucket off her head, that Akane had slammed onto it after splashing her.

"Maybe I wouldn't have to lie, if you actually bothered listening to me more often," complained the redhead, as Hiroshi and Daisuke, not wanting to be innocent bystanders fled the area, running into each other a few times as they zigzagged to the exit.

"Thanks a lot Akane, for getting me wet while I was trying to enjoy lunch. It's cold up here you know!" Spat out the angry redhead.

"It's your own fault, Ranma. Now isn't it? If you hadn't lied to me, I wouldn't be so angry," she growled as the intensity of her battle aura increased.

"You know, maybe if you could just keep that big mouth of your's shut, then maybe I wouldn't have to lie to you about such things to you. Now if you don't mind, I'll be going elsewhere to finish off what's left of my lunch," she said, glaring at Akane before closing her water filled bento. She stood up and walked towards the exit, all the while her bento dripped behind her.

Kuno sat in his classroom, happily munching on his piece of curry bread, thoughtfully starring at his collection of pictures. As he looked up, he noticed the pigtailed girl passing by, looking quite upset. Being the kind and concerned gentleman that he was, he jumped up from his seat and ran off in the direction of his pigtailed goddess.

"Wither not my pigtailed goddess, for I, Tatewaki Kuno have come to comfort thee in your moment of despair and need. Come join with me, so that we can bask together in the glory of each other's love and forget about all the unearthly unpleasantness that encircles us," he proclaimed, while posing in a stance, causing some of the schoolgirls to giggle as they walked by.

Ranma grimaced as she heard Kuno behind her.

"I really ain't in the mood for this Kuno ..." she said with an anger laced voice, trying to slowly count to ten in her head to calm herself.

"Are you upset my dear about the pictures that that vile mercenary Nabiki Tendou has been selling? You shouldn't be for your beauty surpasses that of any other goddess," he said trying to cheer up his reluctant girlfriend.

"Hey! I ain't the one in those pictures," Ranma yelled while tightening her fist, causing Kuno to look very confused. No matter how hard he tried, he could never figure out women, especially his beloved pigtailed goddess.

"What? Do you not see yourself as pretty? Fear not my dear, for your beauty is surpassed by none and I shall love you no mater what garments you choose to wear, or how you behave yourself," Kuno said trying to comfort his love, causing Ranma to grumble and fold her arms across her chest.

"I already told ya I ain't the girl in those pictures, you moron," she stopped to yell at him.

"It's alright, your secret is safe with me, oh fair one," he said as he embraced his pigtailed goddess and snuggled her tightly, sending shivers up Ranma's back. Ranma couldn't take this idiot and his ramblings anymore, so she punched him sky high, leaving a hole in the ceiling, as she stormed off looking for Nabiki, who always seemed to manage to stay out of sight during these kind of situations.

Later, after school ended, Ranma walked out of the building and saw Akane, still looking upset. Akane looked up and saw Ranma.

"Ranma I'm sorry..." she apologized after having thought about how she acted earlier. Ranma noticed how sincere she sounded and it touched him that she finally apologized.

"Thanks, I appreciate it Akane," he said thinking that perhaps his fiancée wasn't so uncute after all. Akane looked off the other way, blushing profusely.

"Ranma, if you want you can tell me what's going on. I promise I won't say anything. If I do ... then you won't have to eat my cooking for an entire week ..." she shuffled her feet and looked down at the ground. Ranma twitched upon hearing this.

"Okay, it's ah deal if you make it a month," he said, deciding to push his luck. Akane grumbled a bit but finally agreed to the terms. So, As they walked home, Ranma told her about his plan.

"Well I asked the girl from Asadaiba high, to help me get back at pops. You know how he's always picking on me and stuff," he said as Akane nodded.

"Yeah, he's not as nice as my daddy ... I understand that ... but Ranma you should've seen how hard she beat him up ..." Akane said sadly as Ranma just shrugged.

"Ah, he probably deserved it anyway. Besides, I toldcha I've beaten pops up more than that before and he's fine. It's just the way of the martial artist, Akane," Ranma said sagely, using the same excuse Genma used to use on him, whenever Genma hurt him as a child.

They neared the front door of the house, and walked in together still talking. Kasumi had a strange expression on her face, as she watched Ranma enter the house for a second time that day, but this time with Akane. She started growing nervous wondering if it was rude to ask Ranma politely what was going on. Ranma noticed Kasumi's worried expression and decided to find out what was wrong.

"What's wrong Kasumi-chan?" He asked lovingly, causing Kasumi to blink a few times, before looking up at Ranma.

"Well, you came home early from school this morning, but I guess you must have went back," she said a bit worried, this time causing Ranma to blink.

"Nah," he said rubbing the back of his head, "I've been at school all day. Right Akane?" He asked and Akane nodded as she began to think.

"You know?" she said snapping her finger, "It must've been that Asadaiba girl, Ranma," she said accusingly, which caused Ranma to grumble and clench his fist. He didn't think that it would go this far. He should have known better than to trust some girl just because she looked like him.

Nodoka worked preparing an afternoon snack for Onna, while she merrily hummed to herself. She felt happy that she finally had someone she could cook for again, instead of just cooking a lonely meal for herself, and having to eat it in solitude. Then suddenly a thought crossed her mind.

"Ranko dear ... where is Mr Panda?" She asked concerned, hoping that the nice Panda she liked so much hadn't died or something. Ranko and the Panda seemed inseparable, to her. Onna froze for a moment, running through Ranma's memories, remembering the specifics of Nodoka's visits to the Tendous.

"Oh, he's staying at the Tendous. My parents told me I couldn't have a pet anymore... So uncle Soun said he could stay there. It's okay, cause I still get to see him whenever I visit Akane-chan," Onna explained as Nodoka smiled and nodded.

"I see, that's good and well as long as Mr. Panda is happy, I suppose," said Nodoka as Onna smiled at her, while chopping away at the vegetables happily. Nodoka smiled back at the young girl.

"Maybe later we can stop by the Tendous and visit Mr. Panda. Wouldn't that be nice Ranko?" Asked Nodoka, causing Onna to petrify as her heart thudded, remembering all the bad things Satan had made her do at the Tendous.

"No, That's okay Auntie ... I mean ... maybe later," she giggled lightly as she nervously started chopping away at the vegetables again, this time gaining some of Ranma's speed without realizing it.

Nodoka prepared the rest of the meal, combining the chopped vegetables with the rice. Onna meanwhile, helped set the small table that Nodoka had once used to bash over Genma's head, as Nodoka finished up cooking. Once she was done, she rushed back into the kitchen to help Nodoka bring out the food to the table. As they sat down, Nodoka motioned her to help herself, and smiled as she watched the girl make a plate for herself.

"My Ranko, your manners with food, most certainly have improved since I last saw you. You're not eating out of the serving dish for one thing," Nodoka joked, giggling while covering her mouth with the back of her right hand. Onna double-blinked, pulling the spoon out of her mouth, as she sorted through the images in her mind. She sweat dropped, seeing how Ranma acted in his girl form while eating, in front of his mother, as he pretending to be Ranko. She began to giggle cutely.

"Oh well ... I guess I just got kind of sick of people telling me that I wasn't being very ladylike while eating, Auntie," Onna said, causing Nodoka to look at the girl with pride. Nodoka began laughing at what Onna said, and continued to eat her meal happily, glad that Ranko was finally growing up. Onna smiled back, about to say something, when Satan's voice filled her mind.

_**"Get back here immediately, you little wench, before I'll be forced to do something, like say hurt that woman you are with ... after all she did hurt me,"** _Satan echoed through Onna mind, causing the poor girl to panic.

**_"Leave her alone, I'm coming back. Alright?"_** she thought, knowing that he could read her mind. With that she started to get up, before wiping her mouth with the napkin and looking at Nodoka.

"I'm sorry Auntie Saotome, but I have to be leaving now. Thank you for the splendid meal. It was very good," Onna apologized, before Nodoka shook her head and approached Onna, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Ranko, I told you I don't want you going back there until I talk to your parents," Nodoka said sternly, not sure that talking to Ranko's parents would solve anything. The truth of the matter was, that she had already planned for Onna to move in with her. She wasn't willing, to let Ranko stay in such a dangerous environment. Onna meanwhile trembled as Satan's words continued to echo throughout her mind.

"No! I have to. You just don't understand," she said, reaching up to take Nodoka's hand off her shoulder, before walking to where her red gem necklace laid. She picked it up and started to head for the door. Nodoka sighed, grabbing her katana and pulling it's sheath off.

"I'm sorry Ranko, but I can't let you go back to that type of abuse. I've never told you this, but I've always seen you as sort of a daughter. I can't standby and watch you get hurt like this.", Nodoka said emotionally. Onna looked upset, as she watched Nodoka block the doorway with her katana ready.

"Please Auntie, you don't understand ... I don't want you to get hurt because of me," she pleaded with the woman. Onna eyes widened as Nodoka looked like she was being choked by some kind of invisible force. Onna dropped down on her knees and pleaded out loud, "Please let her go, I already told you, I was coming back," she sobbed before Nodoka fell to the ground and held her neck, coughing and watching helplessly as the girl she cared for walked out of the house.

Happosai stuck out his head from his room, as he heard Ranma's voice approaching.

"Now where have you been all day, my boy? You told me you'd be back. Don't you know that it's unkind to make an elderly old gentleman wait like that? Now come on, I don't have all day you know, we have a lot of training to catch up on," he said impatiently as he pulled out a bucket of water and splashed Ranma, glomping onto her chest the second she changed. Ranma-chan let out a yell, smacking the old lech off her chest.

"I don't need this right now, you old fart," she yelled while Happosai's eyes got big and puffy, as he began to pout.

"But that's not what you said earlier ... You're just so mean, Ranma, playing with an old man's feelings like that, and after accepting all those wonderful presents from me too," Happosai sniffled.

"That wasn't me, Get it through your thick head, I'd never dress up willingly in those," Ranma yelled, having heard enough of the old fool's groveling. Happosai rubbed the tears from his eyes as face grew angry.

"Oh Ranma, you've dashed all my dreams and hopes. How could you? I mean after everything I have done for you. I take it all back. You're just a worthless layabout, just like that old man of your's," he said as he jumped up into the air and whacked Ranma hard on the head with his pipe.

Ranma had enough and began to scream, while pulling her hair with both her hands, causing everybody to stare at her.

'It wasn't me, damn it!' Ranma thought angrily to herself, deciding that it was time to pay her twin a surprise visit, as she raced out the door.

"Ranma where are you going?" Asked Akane, poking her head out of the door, a bit worried. Ranma continued to run, while turning her head back to talk to Akane.

"I'll be right back, Akane. I gotta go and have a little talk with Onna," she said as she sped off in the direction of the girl's house. Akane sighed and looked at Happosai.

"Grandfather Happosai, Ranma was telling you the truth. It was a girl that looks exactly like his girl side," Akane said.

"Oh really? Hmm, maybe I like her better than Ranma in that case," he chuckled and glomped onto Akane's chest, feeling much better now. That is until he was booted into orbit by an angry tomboy.

Onna walked up to the driveway with her head down, as she neared the doorway. She hoped that Nodoka would be all right. She should have left sooner than she did. If she had then the nice woman wouldn't have been hurt. She sighed and looked up to see Satan in his human form glaring at her, from the doorway, with his hand bandaged up, and Alley standing next to him, also in her human form. She did a double take, rubbing her eyes, surprised to see the woman that she had killed earlier, having somehow comeback to life.

Satan stepped down and grabbed Onna's wrist, twisting it slightly, as he dragged her inside, before slamming the door behind him. Alley smirked at her evilly.

"Surprised to see me, huh? Well you should know that Satan has many tricks up his sleeves," she mocked Onna, as Satan tossed the girl onto the couch.

"Such as cloning. You should be very familiar with the process, considering that you're nothing but a cheap clone yourself," he told Onna, knowing that it would hurt her.

Ranma stopped as she skidded into the driveway of Onna's house. She grew pale, as she watched the girl being dragged inside and the door slamming shut behind them. Again she noted how angry the man looked, and how badly he treated Onna. Ranma shook off the eerie feeling that she was getting from the place, and remembered why she was there. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. She ran up to the door and rang the bell, waiting patiently as her confidence grew.

Alley heard the doorbell and came out of the kitchen. She walked over to the door, opening it and was surprised to see Onna standing there. She glared at the girl, before deciding to speak.

"How sneaky of you to weasel out of your punishment, with our master, Onna," she fussed as she grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her inside, before slamming the door shut once more. She then tossed the girl onto the couch and went back off to the kitchen, hating the fact that she had to cook for that worthless mortal.

Satan had his hands around Onna's neck, pressing her back into the couch.

"I told you not to disobey me didn't I?" He took one hand off the girl's neck and used it to smack her across the face, leaving a hand print on her face. Onna's eyes widened in horror as she looked over at Ranma, who was observing the whole thing. Satan grew angry at Onna for not answering immediately, and smacked her again.

"I asked you a question, and I expect an answer. Now!" He yelled causing Onna to tremble. She weakly pointed at Ranma, who was starring in shock. Satan turned the direction Onna was pointing to and began to laugh. He lifted Onna up by her neck, and then tossed her onto the other couch.

"Well ... well well, what do we have here? It's the famous do-gooder, Ranma Saotome. You're very bold and foolish to come down here, at this time," he mocked.

"She tried to escape, but she came running back here, just like a stupid little mortal," Alley said as she poked her head out of the kitchen and looked at Satan. Satan rolled his eyes at Alley's clone.

"Oh clone's are just so awfully stupid. You see Alley there thought you were your own clone. But I can't say I blame her, after all Onna looks just like you, now doesn't she, Ranma?" Satan asked, waiting for a reply.

"Oh I see, you don't know who I am. Let me make it easier for you," he smiled, before reverting back to his demonic form and laughing at Ranma like a madman, as Ranma sneered at him. "Ah yes, now you know who I am, don't you?" He asked, not really expecting an answer this time.

"Well, you're the devil obviously," Ranma said as he glared at the demon with the large bull like horns, and stereotypical red skin, "So that girl..."

"Yes, I used your DNA to create her. Call it payback for not listening to me, when I tried to tempt you into doing naughty things. But obviously, since I used your DNA, she just as bullheaded as you are. So I had to take different measures, to insure her cooperation," he said, stroking his goatee, while chuckling at Ranma. He then walked over to where Onna lay helplessly and snatched the red gem necklace from her hand, before lifting her up and putting the necklace back on her neck. "In fact, you should be grateful. You could say that I just made you a sister, closer than any natural twin could ever be."

"You bastard ... You've been controlling her, making her do things against her will," Ranma said as she looked up over at where Onna laid, concerned for her sister.

"I guess you could say that. It was nice for awhile, letting her have her freedom, watching her make friends and more importantly get to know you, before taking it all away," He laughed, as he grabbed Ranma-chan by the neck with his tail, tightening his hold around her neck, while he laughed, watching the boy-turned-girl dangling helplessly in the air.

Authors notes: Bwahaha yes I like torture, lots of torture and evilness. Again you can kinda tell what will happen next time, so I'm not telling. I have a pre-reader now, and much thanks to him for his hard work prereading my mess.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Shogukan, Viz Video and any others I forgot.


	10. Everything has changed

Chapter 10: Everything has changed

Nodoka began to feel better, since she didn't feel the invisible hold's presence anymore and stood up, getting her second wind. She quickly grabbed her katana as she raced out the door towards Ranko's house. Her mind raced through many horrible images as she ran down the block in her socks, for the first time in years not worrying about soiling them. All she could think about was, what if she was too late? What if that bastard who called himself Ranko's father had killed her? She could never forgive herself if anything happened to Ranko, and swore that she would run her sword through herself if something did.

She continued running down the street, remembering the last words Ranko had said, and how terrified the girl had looked when she shouted them out, to whatever was disabling Nodoka and was choking her as she tried to help Ranko. Nodoka skidded around the corner and continued to run towards Ranko's house, hoping that it was not too late, as she ran up to the front door, slicing it off it's hinges with her sharp blade, before kicking it down and stepping inside, and then positioning herself into her family's sword stance, ready to maim anyone who stood in her way.

Ranma-chan tried to pull off the red tail that was tightly wrapped around her neck. Forgetting all about her own current predicament, she looked over to see what all the commotion was about, and to her own displeasure saw her mother entering the ominous situation. Her eyes widen, as she started kicking wildly at the devil, now having more reasons to fight back than before. She knew she had to get loose before anything happened. The devil just growled angrily at her, enraged at the feisty girl's impertinence, rolling his eyes at the mortal's attempts of escaping, before just tightening his hold around her neck, and ignoring her kicks, all together.

Nodoka rubbed her eyes in disbelief and starred at the gigantic red beast that was holding Ranko by her neck, with what appeared to be his tail. She shook her head and composed herself, before charging at the beast, and striking it on its tail with her katana. Satan hissed furiously and unraveled his tail, losing his hold around Ranma's neck.

Angry now, Ranma rubbed away at her neck, bitting down on her teeth, as her foot became a blur, kicking the devil repetitively, Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken style. At the same time, Alley poked her head out of the kitchen, before noticing that her master was in trouble, and deciding to charge at Nodoka with a knife, trying desperately to even up the odds somehow. Nodoka snickered to herself, before knocking the knife out of the woman's hand with her katana, shaking her head at Alley for bringing a knife to a sword fight. She waited patiently for the woman to try and make another move, confidently gripping her katana, ready to teach this amateur another lesson.

Onna stretched and rubbed her eyes as she slowly regained consciousness. Her eyes widened as she spotted Nodoka fighting off Alley. She tried to get up but hesitated, feeling a sharp pain shoot through her body. Still she gritted her teeth and managed to stand up. She turned her head over to Ranma, who looked very scared, fearing for both his mother and her katana, while Onna recalled the seppuku pledge. Ranma was afraid of his mother's katana, because of the promise that his father had made to Nodoka about making ranma a man among men, and that if he didn't succeed then he and ranma were to commit seppuku, and nodoka had to uphold her honor and duties of being the wife and witness to the promise, and here ranma was in girl form and very close to being exposed as a failure in his mother's eye's, and she would surely make him commit seppuku if she found out about the curse.

"_Poor Ranma,"_ she thought realizing that here he was in his girl form, at risk of the devil exposing him out of spite at any moment to Nodoka.

Satan ignoring the pain from his wound, looked over at Onna, and decided that he wasn't going to be mister nice demon anymore, he was done dealing with her defiance to him. He pointed a claw directly at onna's red gem on her necklace, and it glowed a bright red at the contact from his finger. Onna's eyes suddenly glazed over,she felt her control slipping away, the gem now glowing more brightly as Satan's commands rushed through her head. Like a puppet, she walked up behind Nodoka and grabbed her by the neck, using both hands. Satan smirked and disappeared into thin air, along with alley. He had to tend to his wounds for now and it would be that much more enjoyable having the girl hurt her own family.

Nodoka began to choke as she felt someone grab her by the neck from behind. She tried to pull the hands off her throat desperately. Ranma looked on horrified as she watched her own sister choke her mother. Thinking quickly, she remembered what the devil had said.

_"Yes, I used your DNA to create her. Call it payback for not listening to me, when I tried to temp you into doing naughty things. But obviously, since I used your DNA, she just as bullheaded as you are. So I had to take different measures, to insure her cooperation," she heard him mock in her mind._

Then it hit her as she remembered that right after he had said that, he had put the necklace back on Onna's neck. Then she stopped acting like herself as soon as he had pointed his clawed finger at her red gem. That's it, it was the necklace that was controlling her! Ranma hopped up off the floor, standing up and grabbing onna from behind by the necklace, making her loose her grip around nodoka's neck, as she herself started gasping for air. Nodoka who already was in the process of passing out, spun about and fell to the ground, seeing double of Ranko before her world faded out.

Onna growled and focused her attention on ranma, and twisted her head around glaring at Ranma, she slides her leg forward towards her legs, and thrusts her leg out quickly kicking ranma in one of her's legs. Ranma kept her grip on the necklace ignoring the kick to her leg, the pain from touching the necklace was what she was focused on, even though it felt like it burned her skin as she held it, she yanked the chain tightly so it choked the other girl.

"If you don't want me to kill you, then you'd better take that necklace off.."

She yanked the chain tighter, till the girl tried to pull the necklace off herself but screamed in pain as she pulled at it and stopped trying.

Ranma took the chance and lifted the necklace off around the girls neck for her and slammed her fist into the wall against the gem shattering it. She cursed as the stone fragments burned her skin from the contact. The shattered pieces fell down to the ground and disappeared suddenly. Ranma looked over at the girl, worried that she might disappear at any moment now that her controller was broken.

Onna's eyes went back to normal as the last pieces of the shattered gem vanished into thin air, but she felt very naked now, even though she was fully clothed she patted around on the ground nervously looking all over for the necklace. Upon not finding it she hugged herself with her arms feeling disturbed , she had been so used to always wearing it, it felt like it had been part of her. She looked over at the unconscious woman on the floor blankly, that wasn't faraway from where she was. Ranma looked over at Onna with concern written on his face.

"You alright?"

Onna suddenly looked up at ranma. "I'm sorry.."

Ranma kneeled down next to her noticing her sudden change of attitude.

"It's really not your fault, you were being controlled by that necklace.. i'm sorry but I had to break it."

Onna nodded but looked away feeling very empty of feelings. Ranma noticed this and felt really bad about breaking it, it seemed like the girl had been linked to the necklace and not having it was effecting her greatly.

"I could get you another necklace I suppose.. since you are sorta my sister.."

She rubbed the back of her head nervously, hoping what she had said would cheer her twin up, or snap her out of her dreary mood. Onna still looked off in another direction with her head down not caring, but replied.

"No I'm just a clone, I'm not worth anything in this world, and I don't want to be in it.."

Ranma shook her head, the girls condition was worsening.

"Hey,don't say that! I was really happy when I figured that out ..i mean yeah I was mad at you before.. but I didn't know you were being controlled."

Ranma keep going on about how she felt about having a sibling, and all the cool things they could do together hoping the girl would change her expression or something. No one seemed to notice the hands that came through the wall next to onna that grabbed her by the shoulders and started to pull her through the wall.

Ranma stopped talking as she noticed the girl hadn't replied, and looked over at where her twin was, only to see her go through the wall disappearing

"Onna!"

Alley stepped through the wall in her she devil form.

"Sorry but she's with the master at the moment, thing's wouldn't have gotten this bad if your mom hadn't butt in and hurt him."

She noticed how angry the girl named Ranma Saotome looked at her with pure hatred and it amused her and pushed her to toy with her feelings for the girl known as Onna.

"Now next time you and your sister meet, she'll be quite different." She laughed as she walked through the wall disappearing, leaving the girl to her thoughts.

Ranma charged at the wall full speed, without thinking straight at the moment and smacked face first into the wall. She peeled herself off the wall, and shook her head around annoyed.

"Damn it.. I thought I'd be able to get through."

Then ranma turned her attention to her mother as she started to wake up and looked at her, ranma frooze up immediately. Nodoka looked around dazed as she gazed up at the redhead with concern. "Ranko are you alright?"

Ranma tried not to look at the katana that his mother clutched tightly in one her hand's, and tried to keep calm. "Yes I'm alright Auntie Saotome.."

Nodoka started to get up off the floor and dusted her kimono off, looking at the girl sternly for running off. "Ranko I told you I didn't want you coming back here to that sort of abuse.. you really worried me. Now we should go back home alright."

Before the girl could object, nodoka grabbed her arm and dragged her off towards her house, ignoring her objections.

Ranma lowered her head and tried to think of what to do, oh how she wished Onna was still around at a time like this. She wanted to be near her mother, but the whole seppuku thing was just too scary. Ranma pouted, thinking about hot water and how it always seemed to find her, whenever she was near her mother. At the risk of the curse being revealed she decided to leave now.

"Um Auntie Saotome I'm alright now ..I think I'll go stay with Uncle Soun for awhile. You should go home and take it easy though."

Nodoka nodded sadly, knowing she'd be alone again.

"Alright just as long as you don't go back home, I'll see you later then Ranko." She reached over and embraced the girl tightly, then she pulled back as she noticed the wound on her arm was gone. "My you heal fast Ranko."

Ranma blinked and looked at where nodoka was to her right arm, remembering that her twin had a wound there and thought quickly.

"Ooh um yeah I guess I do, well I'll see you later Auntie Saotome."

Ranma bolted from the area as quickly as she could, it was too much for her as she had talked with her mother whom she hadn't been with alone for years.

Satan started pounding at the piece of coal on the desk with his hammer, after he had finally broken it down into smaller pieces he stopped and laid the hammer down on the desk. Then he grabbed the two nearby demon's he had recruited and slashed both of their arms with his sharp animal like claws and then his own arm as well. He held the small piece of coal in one hand, and wiped the blood from the two demon's wounds on his other hand, wiping it off onto the piece of coal in his other hand, then he let the blood from his slash mark on his own arm drip onto the piece of coal. He smirked as there was a flash of light and the blood hardened around the coal forming a new red gem.

Onna sat in a room with her head down, sobbing, as two demon guards mindlessly stood by the door like a pair of statues. Onna thought to herself, as she sat in the chair, looking over at the demons, closing her eyes and remembering the dream from before. Satan had killed two of his demons and then let his own blood join with theirs, creating a new gem.

She now knew how he controlled her. The gem was linked to Satan because his blood was part of it. If she wanted to be free from his clutches, then she would have to use her own blood and mix it with the blood of two unsuspecting demons, and here conveniently she had two perfect guinea pigs.

She looked around the small room scanning it with her eyes, she spotted an old quill style pen that had a sharp metal piece on the end that lay on the desk, next to the small bed, then she looked over on the bed and spotted the pillow and lowered her gaze down to the sash she wore around her outfit, before grinning.

The demon guards yawned and stretched, closing their eyes for only a moment, and that's when she took action. First she snatched up the pen from the desk and stuck it in between her teeth, then she grabbed the pillow off the bed and charged at the guards smacking the pillow against their faces, and watched as a bunch of feathers exploded from the material from the amount of force she used. Then while the guards waved their arms around trying to get rid of the tiny feathers that were all over the room in the air, she untied the sash from around her waist and silently, but quickly moved behind them grabbing hold of both of their necks with the sash and started to tighten her hold on it. When she heard them cough, she tightened her hold on the sash with more force smirking and watched with satisfaction as the sash pressed deeply into their throats and they started choking.

She waited for them to hit the floor, as they did she released her hold on the sash slowly and kneeled down on the floor where they were, taking the pen out of her mouth, jabbing the sharp metal pointed piece into one of the guards arm and waited as blood started to appear. Then she pulled the quill pen out of arm, and jabbed it into the other guards arm doing the same thing, pulling it out of his arm she gritted her teeth as she jabbed the sharp pointed metal piece into her own arm till it started to bleed.

Biting down on her lip to keep from screaming from the pain, she didn't want anyone to hear her scream and come running, she yanked the sharp piece out of her skin painfully and tossed it aside glad to be rid of it. Then she reached over and stuck her finger into each demons wound letting the blood pour onto her hand, she pulled one of her hand's back and with her other hand she let her own blood pour into it. She trembled as she put both her hands together, rubbing the demon's blood in with her own and waited. A bright light flashed and the blood hardened into the form of an identical red gem, like the one she wore before.

The lock outside the door clicked as someone unlocked it, and the door started to open slowly. Onna panicked and picked up the red gem stuffing it into her pocket, and nervously grabbed the sash off the floor tying it back into place as Satan stepped into the room. Satan looked down at the unconscious guards and smirked at her.

"I see you've been busy trying to escape."

Onna tried to look as innocent as possible.

"What me escape from you.. they looked at me perverted so I had to hurt them."

Satan laughed and accepted the girls excuse for the time being.

"That seems reasonable.. now I made you a new necklace, I want you to put it on without any excuses.. Or would you like me to hurt you again.."

Onna shook her head and took the new necklace from Satan's hand and pulled it on over her head, she tensed up as it fell into place around her neck. She didn't want to put this new controller on her, but if she didn't he'd surely figure out she was up to something, and she didn't feel so naked anymore or empty since she had the necklace back.

"That's my girl, now come along with me, we're going back," he said.

Ranma stepped into the house, taking off her shoes and setting them with the other ones quietly before walking inside. Akane heard the door open and raced out to the front door to see who it was, at seeing ranma her heart raced.

"Ranma where have you been?"

Ranma looked up at akane.

"I told ya I went off to talk to that girl.. listen let's talk about this somewhere in private ok.."

Akane nodded and walked upstairs into her room, ranma followed behind her. Akane sat down on the side of her bed and waited as ranma took a seat in the chair next to her desk.

Ranma sighed, she couldn't believe that she was going to tell akane what she had just seen.

"I went to go find out what Onna, the girl from Asadaiba was doing pretending to me…and I found out."

Akane then noted how upset ranma looked.

"What did you find out ranma?"

Ranma rubbed at her head nervously, thinking if she should tell akane the next part, she finally decides to regardless of the reaction.

"I know this sounds hard to believe but.. I met the Devil.. and he told me created Onna with my DNA to frame me for evil things.. because I never listened to him when he tried to tempt me to do bad things ..the worst part is since it was my DNA she could be my sister.."

Akane's eyes widened in astonishment as she listened.

"So that girl is your sister.. is that why your so upset Ranma?"

Ranma nodded.

"But what I'm most upset about is.. that she didn't want to do any of those things… That bastard made her do it with that mind controlling necklace, and he punished her too by strangling and smacking her around, for trying to have a mind of her own." she said enraged.

Akane look horrified and suddenly felt very concerned for the girl.

"We have to save her then, since she's really not evil.. and is sort of your sister."

Ranma shook her head looking upset.

"I tried but he took her back.. she was so out of it after I broke the red gem." Ranma said, almost crying from remembering how much her twin had changed after the necklace was broken.

Akane comforted ranma as best she could with encouraging words.

"Somehow I think you'll see her again.. but she'll probably be under the devil's control again, but I'm sure you'll be able to save her again." She smiled at ranma, hoping she had gotten through to him.

Ranma looked at akane thoughtfully for caring so much and believing every word so far, till she noticed the video camera lens that peeked in through the doorway. Akane looked over at what ranma was gazing at and looked shocked and enraged upon seeing the video camera lens, it was probably mr. Saotome and her father since nabiki wasn't home yet. Akane stood up grumbling and stormed over to her door and shoved the camera lens out of her doorway and slammed the door shut. Genma fell over backwards from the impact, loosing his grip on the video camera, and dragged Soun down with him as they both hit the floor with a thud.

Ryouga meanwhile barged in through the front door of the Tendo Dojo, grasping a cup of ramen.

"RANMA! How dare you tamper with my food!"

Ranma and Akane both looked at each other as they heard the familiar voice and ran towards the bedroom door at the same time. Ranma was faster and got to there first, opening the door and racing downstairs ahead of akane, she didn't want akane getting into this like she always did.

"What the hell did I do now Ryouga?"

Ryouga held out the ramen cup towards Ranma and crushed it angrily not wanting to hear any of his excuses.

"You know what you did.. how dare you pretend not to know, I mean no one else would tamper with my food but you!"

Ranma shrugged her shoulders as the lost boy ranted on about how she supposedly ruined his stash of ramen, after hearing enough she grabbed the bucket of water that was near the doorway and flung the content's onto ryouga hoping to shut him up peacefully.

"We'll talk about it later, ok P-chan."

P-chan bweeted angrily and snorted as he charged into the air at ranma. Akane finally came down the stairs and spotted p-chan, she ran over and caught him into her embrace.

"Ooh P-chan where have you been? I missed you so much."

She snuggled the small black pig into her chest, not noticing that the pig had turned ten shades of red and spouted a nose bleed.

Ranma started to walk off, but was stopped as shampoo suddenly appeared and glomped herself onto her.

"Aiyaa we go get married now yes Ranma?"

Ranma looked at shampoo with a tired expression.

"Shampoo that wasn't me ok.. it was my sister."

Shampoo ignored ranma's excuse not thinking about it and kept snuggling her regardless of ranma's objections. Colonge hopped in through the doorway on her walking stick.

"I didn't think you'd just give yourself away like that son in law, I found it hard to believe what shampoo had told me."

Shampoo frowned as she listened to her great grandmother thoughtfully. "You mean no was ranma?"

Ranma took the chance and pulled shampoo off her while she was distracted.

"No I told you, it was my sister.. listen we'll talk about this later I need to think.."

Ranma ran off out through the front entrance, she just had to get away from all this madness. She just wanted to be alone for the time being, no interruption's or anyone telling her she wasn't allowed to show her true feelings, regardless of what gender she was at the moment.

"Shampoo go kill Ranma sister now?" Shampoo asked Cologne for permission, thinking that, 'girl who deceive amazon must die.'

"No child, that wouldn't be wise, besides there's more going on here than meets the eye," Cologne said as she watched Ranma roof hop in the distance.

Onna's eyes were glazed over as the new red gem around her necklace glowed brightly as she walked towards Ukyou's restaurant like her master had instructed her to do. Satan watched through a mirror back at the house with the Alley clone. He smiled as she neared the front door of Ukyou's restaurant. "I should've put her under my full power a long time ago."

Alley nodded as she rubbed her master's shoulders lovingly, and blushed as he reached his arm behind her back, pushing her closer to him.

Onna slid the front door's open slowly and peered inside, the light's were dimmed and it seemed no one was home at the moment. She stepped inside and closed the doors behind her as she dragged the container full of gasoline inside with her. Setting the container down on the floor she looked over to the grill and grabbed a squirt bottle of oil off the counter, she squeezed it out onto the surface of the grill making letters with the oil. She wrote out the words **I LOVE YOU AKANE** onto the grill and tossed the squirt bottle aside, bending down she grabbed hold of the container full of gasoline and lifted it up onto the counter. She twirled the cap off the spout and poured large amounts of the gasoline onto the grill. Then as Satan's commands rung throughout her head, she pulled the match box out of her pocket and lit one of the matches, then she tossed it onto the grill and walked out of the restaurant as the fire started.

Ukyou's eyes fluttered open as she thought she smelled smoke faintly, she thought had better go check just to be sure. With that she stretched and stood up walking herself down the stairs that lead to her restaurant, her eyes widened in horror as she saw the huge fire that spread all along the grill with the fiery words that burned **I LOVE YOU AKANE.** Ukyou trembled full of fear, as she ran over and grabbed the fire extinguisher that hung on the wall, and thumbled with it till she hit the switch triggering a large spray of foam that she directed at the raging fire.

Onna walked off towards the tendou dojo her red gem bouncing against her chest as she made her way closer. The command's swam around filling up her mind with nothing else, as she entered the entrance and walked past akane hugging p-chan up the stairs towards Nabiki's room. She opened the door to nabiki's room and entered looking around, no one was there at the moment. She walked over to the dresser and flung the drawer open that held the negatives and copies of the photos. Kneeling down she gathered them up into her arms and started walking off down the stairs, she sniffed the air and smelled smoke coming from the back porch area and walked towards it.

Happosai greeted Ranma as she walked out onto the porch.

"Hello Ranma my boy, have you changed your mind?"

He watched as ranma walked over to the fire he had made, and tossed whatever she had been holding into the flames. He picked up one of the loose photo's she had dropped, and his jaw dropped open as he caught sight of the photo.

"Ranma how could you burn such beautiful pictures of yourself…" He sniffled and rubbed his eyes.

Onna sneered at the little old man, with her glazed over expressionless eyes.

"Because I don't like Nabiki taking them without my permission and then selling them to who knows who. Perhaps, if she had asked first and then let me decide who she could and could not sell them to, I wouldn't have been forced to do it," she yelled, jumping up into the air and over the wall and disappearing from Happosai's view, leaving the old man to cry over the burned photos.

Authors notes: Wow I really got caught up in this chapter. Haha and to the reviewer who commented about me torturing ryouga, it just happens and if you think about it ryouga puts himself up to it. Because he thinks the worst will happen and it does.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does and Kitty, Shogukan, Viz Video and any others I forgot.


	11. Showdown

Chapter 11: Showdown

Kuno pulled his kendo stick out from it's sheath nestled in between his sash and smacked his ninja servant on the head with it.

"Sasuke fetch me my carbonated drink."

He pointed the kendo stick at the soda machine, and waited for the small man to hand him his can of soda. Sausuke knelt down to where the machine had spat out the soda, picking it up he handed it to his master. Kuno grabbed it from him and was about to pop it open, till he noticed his pigtailed goddess as she ran by him. Kuno tossed the unopened soda can to his servant.

"Sausuke take care of this for me."

He then took off after the pigtailed girl with concern, since she hadn't even acknowledged his presence.

He stopped running as he finally caught up to the pigtailed girl in the park. Sausuke came running up behind him, and handed him the can of soda. Kuno grabbed it from him and snapped the top open and chugged a good amount, before handing it back to his servant.

"Pigtailed girl why do you run from your lover?"

Onna turned her head around and smirked as she noticed kuno.

"I was on my way to your place kuno senpai, I guess I was too preoccupied on getting there, that I didn't notice you."

She smiled and leaned on his shoulder and ran her finger tip up and down kuno's neck line. Kuno shivered at the feeling, and had to force himself to take her hand away from his neck.

"That can wait till later pigtailed girl, now come I shall escort you to my chambers!"

He picked her up into his arms and ran off cackling like an idiot, being all excited at how his love was acting towards him in a new way. Finally she admitted her true feelings for him, now the vile sorcerer ranma saotome had no power over her.

Kuno skidded to a halt as they neared the front gates of his mansion, and waited for sausuke to open the main gates. Sausuke ran over and opened the gates for his master quickly, and moved aside as kuno sped by with the pigtailed girl in his arms running into the house. Onna listened to the new command her master gave out to her, and the words filled her head as she looked up at kuno sweetly.

"Oh kuno senpai how about we bathe together hmm? All that running around made me sweaty."

She teased him cutely, as she pulled at her shirt's collar slightly. That's all kuno had to hear, he dashed off still holding her as he ran towards the bathing area cackling.

"Oh pigtailed girl you vixen! The gods would not permit such a thing, but fear not for I Tatewaki Kuno shall protect you my love!"

Onna giggled cutely at kuno, as he laid her down near the large indoor pool sized bath, and started stripping off his clothes while cackling about his victory. He remembered the last time the pigtailed asked to bathe with him, and how the vile ranma saotome had interrupted their love, we'll he nor the gods would do such a thing this time. Onna listened as the new command filled her head, and she stood up and silently sneaking up behind kuno who was untying his sash and ranting on about his victory, she kicked kuno into the large bath by kicking him in the back harshly with one foot. Then she started walking off out of the bathing area toward's Kodachi's room as instructed, her red gem necklace glowing brightly.

Kodachi looked up from the magazine she was reading, as the pigtailed girl came walking into her room, how dare she just invade her personal area. She put the magazine down and glared at the girl.

"You there what do you think your doing, just barging into my personal area.."

Onna skimmed through ranma's memories regarding kodachi, and watched the images play through her mind about the rhythmic gymnastic martial art's challenge, and how ranma had met kodachi.

"Why should it matter Kodachi, you do the same thing."

She ignored the furious outbursts that kodachi threw about, and the name calling and pulled the matches out from her pant's pocket and lit one of the matches, walking over to one of kodachi's large boy ranma pictures and lets the flame catch onto the picture, then she does the same to all the other boy ranma pictures in the room. Then she tosses the dimly lit match at kodachi's bed, and cackles. Kodachi screamed and jumped up off the bed, running towards her burning ranma-sama's pictures, trying to put them out with what ever's handy while glaring at the redhead. "Why?"

Onna gave kodachi a sickenly evil sneer.

"Because only I can have ranma, you don't deserve him."

She dashes out of the room before kodachi can say or do anything, and listens for the next command as she runs out of the kuno mansion down the street back towards her house.

Sasuke smells the smoke and runs into his mistress's room with a large bucket of water, dousing the bed's flames and then whatever is left of the burning photo's. After all the flames have been put out he bows his head to his mistress apologizing for being so late, but she doesn't seem to hear him, she just stares at the burnt ashes with a bitter expression on her face.

Kuno floats up to the top of the surface finally recovering from the hard kick, he automatically thinks that Ranma is to blame. "Curse you Ranma Saotome, you enemy of women you shall pay!" He fwails his arms around very fast and rants to himself about the vile cretin who always rips him apart from his love. He begins to feel dizzy from moving around so much in the hot water, and passes out face first back into the water.

Ranma-chan walked by kuno's mansion without noticing, for she was too deep in thought about the things that just happened and doesn't realize it as she bumps into someone, till she hears the person grumble. Then she looks up from her thoughts at who she had bumped into, and her mouth falls open in surprise at who it is. "Onna?"

Onna shakes her head around recovering from bumping into someone, she looks up at who said her name and see's that it is Ranma, her red gem necklace glows bright red and the coal piece embedded inside the gem gives off a black light.

"Why hello Ranma, isn't it funny meeting you here." She throws back her head and laughs wickedly at her twin.

Ranma notes the gem glowing brightly with two different colors, and tries to grab at it in hopes of releasing his twin from her hypnotized state. Onna sneers and blocks the gem with her arm in a defense stance.

"Sorry but I can't allow that, now fight for your life Ranma Saotome.."

She goes into a defensive battle stance, and slides her leg out and crouches down low on her legs doing a side sweep kick, knocking ranma off her feet. She laughs as ranma almost falls over, and looks pissed as ranma catches herself before she falls and flips back onto her feet and into the air. Onna has a not amused expression on her face.

"You coward.. running away from a fight, some martial artist's you are."

She hasn't noticed that ranma has landed silently behind her, and looks around the area for any trace of her enemy. Ranma quietly and quickly grabs the necklace and yanks it around her twins neck tightly.

"Hah stop talking about me, and look at yourself.. you couldn't even sense my moves. Now I don't want to hurt you.. so just cooperate and take off that damn necklace.."

She tightens her hold on the chain, ignoring the excruciating burning pain it's giving off to her skin, more so then before. Onna looks around and notices their near a wall and sneers as she slams herself and ranma into the wall forcefully, making the wall crack abit. Ranma winched as she still held onto the chain part of the necklace tightly as it burned her skin.

"Come on I know ya don't want to do this.." She looked pleadingly at girl, while she held her grip on the necklace, ignoring the pain.

Onna smirked evilly at her twin.

"That was the old me, the new me doesn't care about those sort's of things."

She notices the painful look that ranma is trying to hide and laughs.

"It burns deeply doesn't it, you could save yourself some pain and let go.. Besides why should you care whether I a mere clone dies or not, think about your self you idiot. Besides you should hate me, I've done some really mean things to the people around you."

Ranma tried not to listen to this new personality that her twin had acquired since she had disappeared, and tried to reason with the old Onna if she still existed.

"It wasn't your fault.. you were being controlled by that freak, I don't hate you.. you have my DNA in ya.. so your like my sister, like I told you before..

Onna threw her head back and laughed as the chain tightened into her neck.

"That's so pathetic to hear you all upset because of something stupid like that."

Ranma growled at the girl, still holding tightly onto the necklace pulling her twin by it, slamming her into the wall and yanks at the chains that hold the red gem in place. "Shutup!"

Ukyou tossed the fire extinguisher down onto the ground angrily, and wipes the tears from her eyes as someone enters the restaurant. Ryouga looks down at a trembling and teary eyed ukyou on the floor, and looks around at the smoke filling the air.

"Ukyou.. what happened here?"

Ukyou looked up at ryouga and her eyes widened as she thought about the horrible messed that was burning within the fire, it couldn't possibly have been ranma.. he would never admit to loving that tomboy. Now ryouga on the other hand openly admitted his love for akane, not in front of her but to others he did. She tightened her fist as she thought about it more, and glared up at ryouga.

"How dare you write something like that, and then try to burn my restuarant and my home down!"

She pulled her gigantic spatula off it's holder from her back and charged at ryouga while swinging it around. Ryouga saw the gigantic spatula coming towards him and the angry okonomiyaki chef, and turned tail running off. He wasn't sure why ukyou was mad at him, and couldn't ask her when she was mad, so it was better to leave as fast as he could. Ukyou chased after him swinging her spatula around full of pure rage.

"Get back here you jack ass!"

Ryouga ran as fast as he could not watching where he was going, and fell through an open man hole disappearing. Ukyou was so full of rage she hadn't even noticed and kept running, swinging her spatula around furiously, thinking that she was still chasing after him. Ryouga was quite thankful atleast this one time about falling through the man hole cover, but not about always falling into water and turning into a pig. P-chan sighed and paddled his way towards the edges, so he could pull himself out of the water and tried to find a way out of this place.

Ranma was still trying to reason with his twin, as she had her slammed up against the wall and held the chain part of the necklace tightly in her grasp, she blinked as ukyou stormed by not noticing them. Then a plan came into her mind as she saw ukyou, she could help her out abit. So she decided to get her attention. "Hey Uchan!"

Ukyou stopped and her rage cooled down as she heard ranma's voice, she just wanted to hug him and never let go.

"Ranma huney!" She smiled and turned her head in the direction the voice was coming from, her mouth dropped open in awe as she saw two girl ranma's, one was holding the other by a necklace. Ranma-chan noted how ukyou just starred at them.

"Ukyou it's me Ran-chan, I need your help.. smash the red gem on the other me's neck."

Onna growled and tried to attack ranma, but couldn't do much but struggle since she was behind held down by her necklace which her twin had in her clutches. Ukyou looked for a red gem necklace, and spotted it on the ranma that was being pressed up against the wall, she ran over to where they were and pulled out a smaller spatula.

"Ranma huney catch!"

She tossed the smaller spatula to the ranma that was pressing the other one against the wall, hoping she had the right ranma. She watched as the ranma that had talked to her caught the spatula with one hand, and grasped the other ranma by her necklace with the other. Ranma-chan then slid the chain around, still grasping it tightly as her finger's twitched from the burning sensation, till she saw the glowing gem. With her other hand grasping the small spatula tightly she sliced into the chain part of the necklace roughly, and yanked at it forcefully, making the spatula's sharp edges cut into the weakened chain. She gave it one last hard yank and broke the chains that held the red gem in place, she released her hold on the chain and from onna and cursed at her scorched red hand.

Onna's eyes lost the glazed look, as the gem separated from her broken necklace, and she tensed up feeling naked once more. She suddenly remembered how she had acted and how she had attacked her twin, she hung her head low and backed away from the wall, and ran off as fast as she could, the tears slowly filling her eyes. Ukyou noticed the other ranma had run off with tears in her eyes after that necklace was broken and was very confused and seeked answers.

"Ranma huney.. why were there two of you?"

Ranma-chan looked up from blowing on her scorched hand at ukyou. "What do ya mean by were?"

Ukyou shrugged her shoulders before answering. "Well the other you ran off really fast, after you broke that necklace she had on.. why is there another you?"

Ranma-chan looked upset as she heard what ukyou said. "She ran away huh.. I'll tell you, though you might not believe me, but then I have to go after her."

Ukyou nodded and listened as Ranma told her that the girl was a clone made by the devil to frame him, but since ranma's DNA was used she was more like a sister. Ukyou looked very concerned, but also grew angry as she thought about the sudden fire from before. Ranma noticed this and knew Onna must've done something horrible against her will again.

"Ukyou.. try not to be mad at her, she's being controlled by the devil.."

Ukyou's rage grew as she listened to ranma making up excuses for his twin, she gritted her teeth as she replied.

"Well your sister tried to burn my home and my restaurant down! She left the rudest message burning in the flames.. I almost blamed Ryouga for it!"

Ranma sighed and gave ukyou a tired looking expression.

"Ukyou please.. I know it's a horrible thing that she did, but it's like I told ya she has no control over what she does. She's ok for now, and I'm sure she knows what she did and feels very guilty about it.."

Ukyou noted how upset ranma looked when she talked about her twin, she decided to be abit more understanding.

"Well I'll believe it when I see it Ranma-Huney.. and she owe's me big time for the damages.."

Ranma smiled somewhat as ukyou went abit easier on her twin for her actions.

"Thanks ukyou this means a lot to me, I'll help you clean up your place for awhile."

Ukyou smiled with teary eyes and glomped onto ranma. "Thank you Ran-chan.."

Ranma-chan and Ukyou walked back towards the restaurant, both deep in thought about the recent event's.

Onna keeps running till she spots a cemetery, she walks in through the gates wiping away her tears and trying not to shake as all the horrible things she's done played through her head over and over. She grabbed her head and slumped up against a headstone, and curled up starring off into nothingness as the rain started to fall from the sky. She was to busy crying to notice nodoka who was visiting the grounds at one of her families headstones, not too faraway. Nodoka stopped praying as she heard a girl crying not far off from where she was, she grew concerned that it could be Ranko and grabbed her umbrella up from the ground, following where the sounds were coming from. Nodoka finally came upon a headstone with a red-haired girl curled up crying, with her head down, she immediately recognized that it was Ranko.

"Ranko dear…what are you doing out here in the rain like this.." She popped open the umbrella that she held in one of her hands, holding it over the girl.

Onna looked up at the kind voice and her eyes widened, she couldn't stop from trembling as the horrid images kept playing in her head. Nodoka noticed that she was trembled and quickly grabbed her by the arm and dragged her up onto her feet gently.

"Come on now Ranko.. your freezing from being in the cold rain, it's not good for you.. Lets go back to the house, and I'll make you some warm tea to warm you up."

Nodoka didn't wait for a reply, as she was too concerned with the girls condition and started walking off, still holding the girls hand and making sure she was walking with her under the umbrella as the rain poured down hard from the sky.

Soon they entered nodoka's house, nodoka closed the umbrella and put it away and lead onna into the house, then she ran off into the kitchen an began to prepare the tea quickly. Onna just sat there at the table with her head down, she didn't care that she was cold and wet. Nodoka ran back into the room with the tea and set the cup down near the girl. She had panicked and microwaved the tea, seeing that it was faster then waiting for the water to boil. She grew nervous as the girl didn't move from the spot, or the fact that she wasn't touching the tea at all. Nodoka reached both of her arms out and took hold of Onna's, and guided them to the warm cup of tea.

"Please Ranko dear won't you have some tea? You'll catch a cold if you don't warm yourself up."

Onna looked up from the ground into the woman's pleading eyes, again the kindness that she showed reached through to her heart, melting away her cold barrier towards people. She sighed and took hold of the cup, lifting it up off the table towards her face gently blowing her breath onto the tea's surface to cool it off. Then she sipped some of it, noting how relieved the woman started to look. Nodoka thought this was as good a time as ever to tell the girl what she had been constantly thinking about, and cleared her throat.

"Ranko dear.. I'd like to ask you something, just listen before you answer alright?"

Onna nodded and sipped her tea slowly, as she waited for Nodoka to continue. Nodoka smiled nervously at the small girl, and finished what she had to say.

"I'd like for you to move in with me, of course you don't have to I'd just feel a lot better knowing you were safe under my care."

Onna just starred at the woman in awe, of how kind she was being to her. She remembered how happy it had made her when they had both taken a bath together, and cooked that afternoon snack. Then she came upon a sad memory of ranma's, one where he had to hide from his mother, and watched how sad she looked when she heard ranma was not at the tendou dojo. Another memory played in her head, it was about ranma disguised as Ranko, and how happy Nodoka was being with her. Onna looked down at her neck, remembering the necklace was gone which meant Satan could not boss her around at the moment, she pulled her new red gem out from her pocket and laid it on the table.

"Yes I'll move in with you Auntie Saotome..but could you make this into a necklace?" She pushes the red gem further out across the table, so Nodoka can see it. Nodoka eyed the gem astonished by it's soft glow, and how red it was.

"Of course I will, this is so unlike you Ranko, you never wear jewelry, and I'm beyond happy at hearing that you accept my proposal." Nodoka wipes tears of happiness away, and dabs at them daintily with her napkin.

Onna smiled at seeing the woman so happy, then she looked frightened for a moment.

"Auntie Saotome..i need to go back home and get some of my things.."

Nodoka stopped her before she could say anymore, by raising her hand up gently.

"Please Ranko don't try to decide such dangerous things all by yourself, I understand you want to go back and get your stuff. I'll go with you if that's the case."

Onna's eyes widened at the woman's determination, and gave up on arguing further about the situation, and finished her tea rather quickly.

Nodoka noticed this and shook her head, but pressed further on the other problem.

"Alright let's go get your stuff then, stay close to me at all times won't you Ranko dear? I don't want you getting hurt anymore."

Onna nodded and followed after Nodoka, as she walked out of the house down the street towards onna's house. Onna stayed very close to her, as they neared her house. Nodoka noted that the girl was trembling slightly as they approached the front door of the house.

"Ranko dear it's alright, i'm here with you and i won't let anyone lay a single finger on you." She smiled geniunely at the girl.

Onna's eyes trembled with tears, at how much this woman really cared about her. She nodded and entered the dark house with Nodoka, stepping about quietly and carefully till they reached her room. Onna snatched up her bookbag from the floor and quickly started stuffing some outfits and her most important things inside. Nodoka knelt down onto the floor next to her and helped her pack most of her things. Onna finished and nodded at nodoka letting her know she was ready to leave. They both exited the dark and gloomy house, walking outside into the sunny atmosphere.

Ranma-chan kept walking deep in her thoughts, till she heard a loud squeeling noise, listening to where it was coming from. She jumped up onto the fence and looked down into the water canal below and spotted p-chan, being carried away by the water's current, jumping off the fence and down into the water canal below, she grabbed p-chan and hauled herself out of the water. Ukyou snapped out of her thoughts at hearing the noise as well. "Ranma huney..did you hear that?" She blinked confused, as she noticed that ranma had dissapeared and looked around till she found both ranma and p-chan in the water canal below.

"Ranma huney?" She peered down at ranma through the chain fence.

Ranma-chan jumped back up ontop of the fence holding p-chan by his bandana, and jumped down from the fence onto the ground next to Ukyou.

"Look who i found." She showed ukyou the black piglet, as it kicked it's legs about furiously trying to get away.

Ukyou noted this, and blushed embarassed for blaming her misfortune on Ryouga. "Ryouga don't worry i'm not mad at you anymore.. " She twiddled her fingers nervously as she talked.

Ranma-chan smirked at Ukyou and P-chan. "Why don't you continue this love chat after he gets some hot water, back at your place."

Ukyou blushed again, but more furiously then last time and reached behind her, grabbing her gigantic spatula and lifting it into the air, bringing it down crashing into ranma's head. "Ranma you jack ass! How could you say such a thing!" She quickly put her spatula back into it's holder on her back, and dashed off towards her restuarant looking very embarassed. Ranma fell over face first into the ground from the instant impact that the gigantic spatula had given her. P-chan trotted over to where ranma was and snorted smugly, as if to mock ranma. Then he started walking off in a random direction, not paying attention to any details.

Disclaimer: I do not own ranma 1/2 or any of it's characters, they great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Shogukan, Viz Video and any others i forgot.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Patching things up

In the meantime ukyou had gotten tired of waiting on ranma, and became impatient. Being somewhat bored she found herself tapping her foot on the ground, while glancing at her watch every few minutes, she began to wonder if perhaps she had hit ranma too hard this time. She sighed in defeat, feeling the guilt setting in, she decided to go back and see if her fiance was alright.

Returning to the spot where she had last seen ranma, she spotted the redheaded girl sprawled out across the sidewalk, face first and still unconscious. Ukyou found herself feeling guilty and didn't want to wake ranma up, so she decided to drag her back to the restaurant using her pigtail. A few bumps and bruises later, they finally arrived back at her place, beaming with delight after having finally having a somewhat romantic stroll with her dear Ranchan. Yes, she would definitely have to write in her diary about this, she decided letting go of the pigtail that held ranma's head up, being too lost in her thoughts she didn't notice ranma's head hitting the ground till she heard a loud thud. She grimaced and began to contemplate the best option for waking up her deeply sleeping fiance.

Snapping her fingers as the idea hit her, she quickly ran to the broom closet, swinging the door wide open as she began rummaging about for what she needed. A few seconds later, she reemerged holding a bucket and ran off into the kitchen, filling the bucket and soon made her way back to Ranma, where she immediately splashed the sleeping girl with icy cold water. Ranma woke up abruptly, squeaking in shock as she jumped up into the air, still shivering from the sudden coldness which had befallen her. She grumbled a bit as she came to and noticed where she was. She quickly focused her glare on Ukyou, who quickly tossed the bucket somewhere, blushing guiltily.

"Sorry about that Ranma honey, but you were out cold ... and I still need you to help me like you promised to, sugar," she said while glaring intently at Ranma, making Ranma-chan gulp as she felt guilty again about what Onna had done.

Ranma was ready to get to work, but before she started she wanted to dry off. So, she ran her fingers through her hair, quickly rubbing her scalp at lightning speeds, before wildly shaking her head about, affectedly spin drying her hair in the process.

_"Now for the clothes,"_ she thought as Ukyou gazed at her fiance with pride and joy. The two were so caught up in the moment that neither one noticed a little black piglet finding its way into the restaurant. The piglet wandered about in search for hot water, at first bumping it's snout into a closed door, before turning around and miraculously heading off towards the kitchen. A half a minute later, Ryouga emerged from the kitchen, fully clothed.

"You deserved that Ranma. That's just like you, not caring about a girl's feelings. You insensitive jerk. Me on the other hand I'd never do anything like that to Akane."

"Yeah why don't you tell it to someone who'd believe ya," muttered Ranma-chan under her breath as she rolled her eyes, as Ukyou growled, gripping her spatula tightly as she directed it towards Ryouga, threateningly.

"Now, Listen sugar I'd rather not hear about her at this moment," she spat while pointing her spatula towards the message burned into the grill. Ryouga began to laugh nervously, sweating heavily, while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, having forgotten about the current situation. Ranma laughed at Ryouga for doing the same exact thing that she had before, and taunted him by throwing his insult right back at him.

"So Ryouga, what was that you were just saying hmm? That your not insensitive to girls feelings? She laughed again and mocked him by making random goofy facial expression's at her arch rival. Ukyou had enough and slammed her giant spatula down between the two of them.

"Enough! You two jackasses are here to help me fix this place up. So stop fighting and help, or leave," she yelled causing Ryouga to flush nervously, as he ran off to grab some cleaning utensils that were stored behind the grill, before proceeding to vigorously rub away at the scorched words burned onto its surface.

"Uhm, sorry about that Ucchan," Ranma giggled sweetly as she rubbed the back of her head, feeling guilty for acting so childishly. "I guess I just lost my head for a moment there," she finished, as she picked up the bucket and some cleaning utensils and went off to help Ryouga scrub.

Ryoga and Ranma were both panting after having spent an hour scrubbing the grill clean. They wouldn't have felt so tired if the two of them hadn't turned the scrubbing into some sort of contest, where they each tried to outdo the other. In the end though, Ranma had to admit that she was pleased. A good rivalry was always her idea of fun. She sighed contently, as she saw Ukyou finishing tidying up before smiling at them, seeing that the grill was not only spotless but also shiny.

"Thanks for helping me out you two, and since you two worked so hard, I'll treat you to some Okonomiyaki on the house," she said smiling, before heading off into the kitchen again to wash her hands. She came back and started to prepare her grill, as Ranma smiled happily, thankful to be rewarded for such hard work by her good friend Ukyou. Ryoga smiled at Ukyou with a goofy expression on his face. He was truly grateful to have a beautiful young girl cook for him out of the kindness of her heart. His smile disappeared as he gave Ukyou a grave look.

"So, Ukyou who did this to you if it wasn't Ranma? I know it wasn't myself and I still have my suspicions that Ranma probably had something to do with it, but if you say it wasn't him..."

Ranma looked down nervously at the floor, wishing that Ryouga would just shut up. What he was saying made her feel guilty and uneasy since her sister was involved and she didn't want to hear anymore of it. Unfortunately, Ukyou didn't notice and went on gossiping to Ryouga, telling him all the juicy details of the story.

"So you see sugar, it was Onna. She just looks exactly like Ranma girl side, so we weren't able to tell. But like I said it wasn't her fault, she was just being controlled like Ranma honey here told me," she said before noticing how upset Ranma looked for her talking about her sister like that. Ukyou stopped talking, now feeling guilty over what she had said.

Ryouga's mind started to process the recent events, then it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. "So she was the one who put worms into my ramen cups! How cute she must've been thinking about me." He blushed furiously as he remembered back to their first meeting at furikan and how he had seen her underpants. His nose started to gush with a streak of blood as he laughed nervously. Ranma-chan slammed her fist into his face, knowing full well what the lost boy was thinking about.

"Hey! Stop thinking hentai thoughts about my sister, pervert," she growled, hating perverts every bit as much as her uncute fiancee did. The only difference was that she didn't accuse people of being one unjustly. There was no way in hell she'd let this pervert touch her sister, not after the perverted acts he had committed against Akane.

Ukyou just giggled and kept cooking, as she watched the two of them fight back and forth about Ranma's twin sister.

"I can date your sister if I darn well choose to. Besides, it's none of your business, Ranma," Ryouga said smugly showing off one of his fangs.

"Oh by the way Ryouga, she knows about Mr. P," said Ranma-chan, feeling satisfied, thinking that her sister would never go out with a jerk who turned himself into a little piglet just to get into the bed of an unsuspecting girl. At least, that is how she would have felt if she was a girl she thought, before realizing that she was accidentally thinking about how she would think like if she was a girl again. Not wanting to go there, Ranma admonished herself sternly.

"You told her! You jerk. Ranma, how dare you."

"Oh why don't cha shut it, bacon breath. The only reason she know's is cause she knows everything I do. What I mean is she has most of my memories," said Ranma.

This confused Ryouga who started to scratch his head.

"She knows what I have done. That that I'm P-chan, and yet she's still kind enough to fill my ramen with worms," he thought as his eyes glazed over.

_"Idiot.." _ thought Ranma-chan unhappily, as she watched the fool.

Ukyou finished up the Okonomiyaki's that she was cooking, while enjoying the friendly conversation she was hearing, before serving each participant their share. She was pleased seeing how much they enjoyed her cooking as she watched them dig in and finish off their meals in a couple of minutes.

"Thanks Ucchan, your the best," said Ranma after a brief pause, having finished her meal, before she ran off looking for her twin. She wanted to find her and make sure she was alright. She loved her sister after all and would do anything to protect her.

Nodoka smiled as she looked up at the sunny blue sky, thinking that such a change in the weather must be a good sign. Onna smiled as well, seeing that Nodoka was also happy. Her smile quickly vanished when she remembered that she had to get her new gem ready and quickly. She didn't have a moment to lose because Satan could attack again, and use her as long as she didn't have her gem, to hurt the people she most cared for. She needed to be ready for such an occasion.

"Auntie ... remember how I said that I wanted that red gem made into a necklace? I hate to bother you about it again so soon, but it's very important to me," she said honestly, as Nodoka smiled brightly, overjoyed at how what Onna said fitted perfectly into her own plans.

"I don't see why not. Today is a very special occasion, so I'll give you the money and tell you where you can go to get it fixed. Also, Ranko dear, I have a request to make... It's a bit selfish of me I admit, but none-the-less I must ask it," Nodoka said, causing Onna to blink and nod at the woman. She was a bit surprised that Nodoka was requesting something from her. As she thought about it she grew worried about what the woman had to say.

"Please forgive this woman of her selfishness ..." she stated before bowing her head down, to show respect and honor towards the smaller girl, "but I would like for you to call me mother instead of auntie ... Since now that you will be living here, we will sort of be like a family. I've always wanted a daughter, Ranko-chan, and I have always secretly seen you as one, ever since I met you... But, I can understand if this is too strong of a commitment for you to want to take," Nodoka said emotionally, as it took all her self control to fight back the tears and continue looking formal.

Onna froze, as her face grew pale and then red. Here was the woman that she wanted as a mother, wanting her to be her daughter. The woman whom she shared DNA with. It had never crossed her mind before that Nodoka was her unsuspecting biological mother. She couldn't see it, because she felt she was just a clone, a fake. But now for the first time she saw that this woman was her mother every bit as much as she was Ranma's. She wasn't just a clone, she was a real person, with a real mother and brother, and father ... She stopped herself not wanting to go that far, because she was still unsure if she wanted Genma as a father. She would have to think about it.

"I ... I'd be honored to call you mother. You know? I think that you always were, just not officially," she ended with a smile as she lovingly looked up at her mother.

Nodoka was very touched by this, she felt the very same way, having always felt that Ranko was her real daughter. She could admit now, that she loved the girl every bit as much as she loved her Ranma. Not being able to hold back any long, Nodoka ran up to her daughter and hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground, as she swung the girl back and forth within her arms. Tears ran down Nodoka face, she wasn't alone anymore. At last she had someone to love, who would love her back, someone to call her "Mom." Finally, she pulled back sheepishly, embarrassed for letting her emotion's overwhelm her and forgetting about what was proper. She took out a handkerchief from her kimono and dabbed hers and Ranko's tears away.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry about my sudden emotional outburst, Ranko. I am just so very happy that you have accepted my offer. Now I would like to throw a party in your honor, for joining my family. We shall have some guests over tomorrow for dinner in your honor. You know? Ranko dear, I could give you a little make over. Doesn't that just sound like fun?" She said waiting in anticipation for the girl's answer.

Onna sighed, she really wasn't in the mood to meet anyone. Yet she saw how excited her mother was and knew how much it meant for her. She was upset at giving in, it wasn't her style. But she loved this woman before her so much that she would do anything to make her happy. She would just have to grin and bare it.

"Yes it sounds very fun mother, but I'd like to get my necklace made first. If were having a party and guests are coming, I'd need to wear some jewelry." Onna said, fidgeting with her fingers nervously, because she had just blurted it out again and she was drawing attention to how important this necklace was to her. The truth was she still felt very naked and not quite there without the familiar gem and necklace laced around her neck. Nodoka quickly took notice of how depressed the girl looked, and remembered how every time she had seen Ranko wearing that necklace around her neck. That is until it got broken. She figured that it must have been a very important family heirloom that Ranko's great grandmother probably gave her, for it to be so important to the girl.

"Oh dear!" She said as she suddenly remembered something. "I'm sorry Ranko. I know how much that necklace must mean to you. But, sadly the shop is closed now. But don't worry dear, you can go first thing tomorrow and get it made. Now I want you to get a good night rest, so that you can get up bright and early tomorrow and get your necklace fixed, and then get ready for the party," Nodoka said. As mother and daughter reached the house and closed the door, Nodoka locked the door as tightly as she could, being overly nervous that those creatures from before might come looking for Ranko.

Ranma sighed and stepped into the house, tired from running all over town looking for her twin and not finding her. Akane came running down the stairs, she became worried when she spotted Ranma and saw how sad and tired she looked. She wanted to ask her what had happened, but decided to save it for later. Right now, she just wanted to be there for him.

"Ranma are you alright?" She asked, looking very concerned over her fiance.

"I'm fine Akane," Ranma said looking up from the ground to face Akane, as her emotions ran through her face, " I'm just ..." she struggled, "I'm gonna go take a bath now Akane," she said before wandering off to the furo, reluctantly.

"Oh my, is Ranma alright? I do hope he'll want to have dinner," said Kasumi, as she poked her head out from the kitchen to see what all the ruckus was about. Akane then walked into the kitchen, smiling at her older sister.

"If you don't mind Kasumi ... can I try to help out with dinner, tonight? And, I really do hope he'll want to eat, because I want to try to fix him something special," Akane said, causing Kasumi to wring her hands worried that her younger sister would mess things up like she usually did.

"Oh my, you could start off by washing the lettuce and vegetables first, and then make the salad. I suppose you can handle at least that much," Kasumi said sighing, knowing that she was just too nice to refuse anyone. Akane nodded and set about on the task at hand. She knew she could do this. She wasn't the nervous wreck today that she usually was when starting something like this. For some reason she was calm and in a different mind set today.

Ranma sat in the furo with his back against the wall, deep in thought. He wished he wasn't so tired, so that he could keep looking for his twin. It was tearing him apart not knowing if she was alive or not. That Satan guy was still out there, probably looking for her. He would have to get up early tomorrow to resume his search. He rose up out of the furo, grabbing a nearby towel to dry himself off. He then changed into a tank top and some casual pants, before making his way to the dining room, where everyone else was waiting for him.

"Tadaima," said Nabiki as she rushed in through the front door, causing everyone to look in that direction in anticipation. Happosai frowned, before hopping off the safety of his cushions and running over to where Nabiki stood smirking.

"Nabiki how dare you ruin the wonderful day I was having by upsetting my dear sweet Ranma-chan! I swear, I shall make you pay for upsetting my greatest disciple," he snapped, before swooshing out the house crying, leaving a poor confused Nabiki, stunned and speechless.

Ranma watched lazily, as he munched on a rice cracker, waiting for dinner to be ready. He was too worn out to try to stand up for Nabiki today against the old freak, nor did he want to. The way he saw it, she deserved some payback every once in awhile for all the things she put him through. Let her have to worry about that old freak for once. Besides, it seemed like the lech was standing up for him.

"It's about damn time too," he mumbled as he took another bite.

"Son, you should thank Akane. You're so lucky to have such a good fiancee. She's in the kitchen right now, working very hard for you," Soun said as he looked up from his newspaper and glanced at Ranma.

"That's right boy, you should show her some respect for her hard work," Genma said, nodding in agreement.

_"Oh great, now I gotta eat some of her junk again,"_ thought Ranma, as he grumbled while trying to ignore the two meddling parents. He had a bad day, not finding Onna, and was in no mood to listen to the idiots ramble.

"Now Nabiki, where have you been? It's almost time for dinner, I don't want you being out this late," Soun said looking up from his newspaper again, as he noticed Nabiki set her things down and sit down.

"I was just out with a bunch of my friends," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "now Daddy if I had a cellphone, like I should,then I could call you and let you know if I'm going to be out late or not. See this is all your fault Daddy. I tried to warn you, but no! Now you know I can't afford those high prices of the pay phones, Daddy," she lectured, while putting her father back into his place.

Soun sighed and went back to reading the newspaper. He decided to drop the whole thing, because it was never wise to go up against Nabiki. The girl was just a master of manipulation and besides that she brought in most of the income into the family. Sure, she brought most of it home and let him and Kasumi decide how to best spend it, but if he annoyed her too much she might just end up cutting off his allowance, which him and Genma used to spend on Sake.

As Soun turned the page, Akane and Kasumi began bringing out the meal, as the duo would rush in and out of the kitchen carrying various of dishes. Akane proudly set her master piece, the salad, down onto the table, and smiled heavily at Ranma.

"You know Ranma, I helped Kasumi make dinner tonight," she said causing Ranma to gulp, " I made the salad and I didn't mess it up this time," she said thinking back to the time her salad exploded, causing a big mess for Kasumi to clean up.

"Kasumi, has my little girl finally been cured?" Soun asked as he dropped his newspaper and started weeping.

"Daddy!" Complained Akane, as Soun starred intently at the Salad. It didn't look like there was anything wrong with it. The vegetables and lettuce were still intact, and the were perfectly sliced and chopped for once. There were also no scorch marks that he could see, and he didn't remember smelling anything burning coming from the kitchen.

"Now why don't you try some, Daddy? I did make it all by myself," she said. This made Soun gulp, knowing that Kasumi didn't even help a little made him feel a bit more reluctant. Carefully, he took out a piece from the bowl that Akane had served him and sniffed it. It certainly smelled like salad, he thought. Slightly trembling, he slowly put the piece of lettuce in his mouth, with his shaky hand.

"My little girl is cured!" He proclaimed, as he cried out in joy, dancing around with his victory fans.

Ranma sighed, relieved that for once Soun was Akane's guinea pig instead of himself. Seeing that Soun was not only still alive but celebrating the cure for his daughter's curse, Ranma decided to make himself a bowl while smiling at his fiancee. Besides, if he didn't at least try a bowl he knew that Akane would snap him like a twig and leave him squirming on the floor, while the two fathers would gang up on him. He munched on a piece and found while not the best that it wasn't bad at all. Akane had even remembered to wash the salad this time. He smiled and continue eating with his regular gusto and soon was joined by everyone else, as they saw that Soun and Ranma's reactions and decided that it was safe.

Akane beamed happily at what she had accomplished. Now if only she could continue cooking in this way. She realized that the key was not to be nervous and unsure of herself. If she didn't panic, she was less likely to grab a bottle of liquid plumber and use it as salad oil. Also if she didn't get frustrated from making a mistake, she noticed she didn't get angry with herself or others who were criticizing her. As Akane vowed to become the best cook in the universe, Ranma finished his dinner and then excused himself from the table, heading to his room to catch some sleep.

The next morning, Nodoka knelt down onto the floor where Ranko was curled up under the covers of her futon. She beamed looking over her daughter, who looked just so cute in that position. Deciding to carry out what she had came for, Nodoka shook Onna gently to wake her up.

"Ranko my dear, it is time to rise and shine," she giggled, "actually dear, it almost noon time and a proper young lady such as yourself should never sleep in this late. But I suppose, that you will learn soon enough. Now why don't you get up lazybones and have some breakfast. I made it just for you," Nodoka said happily, experience a part of parenthood that she never had a chance to before.

Onna opened her eyes and groaned, before rubbing them, as she was hit by the sunlight. She stretched and yawned and really hated being woke up like this. She liked to stay and wake up late, but for her mother she would make an effort.

"Huh? ... Okay," she said before stretching her hands up high and yawning again. She then pushed herself out from the covers and stood up, walking over to where her backpack was at. She pulled out her school uniform and went off to change. Nodoka just shook her head, before gently laughing at her new daughter's half waken state. She could get used to this, the playfully scolding of her daughter every morning for not waking up properly on time, like a young lady should.

"Oh Ranko dear, you're so silly. It's the weekend, there's no need for you to wear your school clothes. That is unless you want to. You do look so cute in it, dear. Besides, it's alright for the time being. We have a big day today."

"I just like to wear it, that's all. I'll change into something more appropriate for the party later," said Onna as she came back out into the room fully clothed, while gently brushing her hair out. Nodoka smiled at her, kindly, before going over to her to help her brush her silky red hair out.

"This is the first time I've seen your hair loose, Ranko. It makes you look so beautiful that I think you should keep it loose more often," said Nodoka as she marveled at her daughter's beauty.

"You know dear, you'll attract more young men this way. But if you keep it bound up and pulled back, you won't get as much attention."

Onna was ready to complain that she always wore her hair loose, but then suddenly remembered Nodoka was referring to Ranma and bit her lip nervously. She now realized that she couldn't go on deceiving Ranma's mother like this. She had to tell her the truth eventually. But how? She couldn't give away the fact that Ranma was really Ranko. She didn't want to reveal his curse to his mother and put him in danger, not that Onna would ever let her mother kill her brother for being her sister. She also didn't want to lose the mother that she had just gained. She felt that she needed to do something but didn't know what. Perhaps, there was a way to make Nodoka believe that Ranma was her twin sister. But she didn't want to lie to her mother or put her sister at risk. This was all too complicated and she needed to think about it.

Nodoka put the brush down and lead Ranko to her room. There she pulled a black lace ribbon out of the dresser and tied it into Ranko's hair gently. She looked Ranko up and down and was pleased.

"There now dear, you look much better than you did yesterday. Boy's clothing really do not suit such a young lady, such as yourself," Onna nodded in agreement and blushed at all the compliments she was receiving from her mother. She was glad to be out of Ranma's clothing, but she wasn't sure that her mother's taste was her own. It was nice to be formal every once in awhile, but not all the time, she thought.

"After breakfast, I'll give you the money and you can go get the necklace made. The shop is in the shopping district and has a red sign in the window. Don't worry dear, I'll draw you a map with all the details. Once you are done, you can come back here and we will have lunch together. I'm fixing your favorite Ranko," Nodoka said as she smiled thoughtfully at Ranko.

Onna was ecstatic, beaming full of happiness. Finally, she was going to have a necklace again, her own. She was going to be complete again, and no one would ever be able to control her again. She would be free to act however she wanted. She continued eating her breakfast at a steady pace, not as fast as Ranma would have because she was sure that her mother would scold her for that. Besides, there was nothing wrong with having a little manners, she thought.

When she finally finished her breakfast, she got up and started putting the dishes into the sink. She then went to where her mother was waiting for her. Upon arrival, Nodoka pulled out a few large bills out of her wallet and handed it to Ranko. She then Pulled the red gem out from her pocket and placed it into her daughter's waiting hands as well.

"Now hurry dear, we have much to do today. By the way, you may spend what is left any way you choose to, as long as it isn't improper. Consider this your allowance, dear," Nodoka said, happy again to be able to do another one of those things a parent did with their child. Onna just nodded, before sprinting out the door with a hop in her step and too excited to mind her manners at the moment. She ran as fast as she could, to the shopping district, forgetting that she could get their even faster if she roof hopped. But then, that was Ranma's thing and not hers, so she was not used to considering it.

Meanwhile, Ranma woke up suddenly and looked around, noting by the sunlight that it was already close to noon. He was surprised. Usually, his father would have thrown him out the window in the morning, or Akane would have splashed him with a bucket of water. Still, it was nice to wake up as a guy for once.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, he bolted up out of his futon. He then jumped up to get dressed, blurring his hands in the process. Then he finally dashed down the stairs, ready to vacate the house, before noticing Akane blocking his way.

"Yo, Akane move it. I've gotta go," he said annoyed. Akane on the other hand just crossed her arms, and stared at him with an angry expression.

"What you getting up so late for anyway, Ranma," she said before holding out a paper bag for him to take, "here Kasumi packed you a brunch, I sort of let her in on what was going on. But before you go off running god knows where, how was my salad last night? Hmm? I'm waiting Ranma," she said a bit impatiently.

"Well it wasn't half bad. In fact, you did a good job on it," Ranma said scratching his head, as he took the paper bag thoughtfully, "By the way, thank Kasumi for the trouble she went through on my behalf." He asked, before pushing Akane aside gently, as he ran out the front door, looking through the contents of the bag as he started snacking, as he ran. He finished his meal in a matter of seconds, before vaporizing the paper bag in his hands using a chi ball. He was so happy about his meal that he didn't even notice getting splashed by that annoying little old lady as he zoomed by. After a bit of running Ranma-chan skidded to a stop.

_"Hmm, what if Onna-chan went looking for me back at my place,"_ she thought, before deciding to head back to the Tendos. As she ran back home, she didn't even notice that she was entering her mother's neighborhood. She slowed down just in time to notice her mother's house.

Nodoka was outside in the front yard watering the flowers while humming. As she spotted Ranko her mouth dropped open in shock and disapproval as she saw what her daughter was wearing and how her hair was tied back into that pigtail. "Ranko!" She admonished, as she stormed over to where the girl was, before grabbing her by the back of her shirt, forcefully dragging her back inside and slamming the sliding door shut, behind them.

"ew ah ee," was all that Ranma-chan was able to say as she was being dragged indoors by her mother.

"This is very disgraceful of you Ranko, for you to go back to your shabby self, and after all that time we spent fixing you up. Just look at yourself, you're a complete and utter mess. Oh Ranko, I'm so disappointed in you, I just can't believe how inconsiderate you are. You know that we are having guests over later. Oh well, nothing more we can do about it now. I guess, we'll just have to fix you up again," she sighed, as she looked the confused girl over.

"Hey! Yo! Wha?" Ranma tried to protest, but she was not able to get in a word in edgewise, as her mother dragged her up the stairs, kicking and screaming and into the master bedroom.

Ranma was very nervous being forced into her mother's room. Her self-preservation instincts, she developed from being forced into situations against her will, kicked in and they screamed, 'run.' She tried to escape by way of door, but sadly Nodoka had already locked it and slipped the key into her kimono. Ranma turned around to see her mother watching her very intently, studying her very carefully.

Nodoka then walked over to Ranma, firmly grabbing the girl by the hand, before dragging her over to the closet. Despite Ranma's best struggles, she refused to let go, as she went through the closet picking out a kimono for her daughter to wear. She finally settled on the pink one, with colorful butterflies on it.

"Here now Ranko, this is much better than those rags you are currently wearing," she said, displaying the kimono to Ranko, "Now change into it, or do I have to help you," she finished, giving the younger woman a stern glare, surprised at how childish Ranko was behaving today. To be honest she was a bit annoyed at how Ranko went back to her old ways, after having made so much progress. There was no way in hell, that she would let her daughter ruin the party in her honor by not dressing up properly.

"But but ... it's pink," said Ranma-chan said in shock, with a slightly raised voice. There was no way in hell that she was going to wear anything pink she swore. Besides, green suited her girl side a lot better, she thought huffing.

"Ranko!" fussed Nodoka, before Ranma got a chance to explain her preference to green.

"Eep," Ranma said as she took the kimono into her hands. She gulped, feeling how silky it felt. She knew that if she wasn't going to willingly put on the kimono then her mother would put it on her for her. Despite her reluctance to wear anything in the color of pink, she would do anything to avoid a situation where her mother would bring out that big scary looking katana. Just the thoughts of it sent shivers up her spine.

Ranma bit down on her teeth, really hating what she was doing, as she got out of her Chinese clothing. She felt uncomfortable having her mother watching her, still studying her. Once she was down to her boxers, she noticed that her mother gave her a look of disapproval for not wearing a bra. Nodoka quickly got an extra set of bra and panties for Ranma to put on. Cursing herself, Ranma quickly proceeded to change, only glad that Happosai wasn't there to see her wearing a bra. With that done she put on the Kimono the best that she could, without having Akane to help as she had that time with the martial arts tea ceremony.

"Ranko dear, I hope you don't think that this is how you should wear that, Nodoka said, after putting her hand to her mouth, as she noticed that Ranko had left the kimono open, exposing her breasts in the process. Ranma-chan just blinked in her cute way and shrugged her shoulders at her mother's words, looking down at her chest. "This isn't how it goes auntie Saotome?"

Nodoka just shook her head, trying not to laugh at her daughter. She then helpfully grabbed the pieces of the kimono that were hanging loosely over Ranko's chest, pulling them together so that they covered her. Next she picking up the sash from the floor and strapping it around Ranko's waist, tying it in the back.

"Now dear, I thought we already went over this. I would like for you to call me mother instead of auntie, because I think of you as my daughter," Nodoka said amusedly.

Ranma froze up. She couldn't believe it, ever since she first met her mother, she wanted to be able to call her 'Mom,' but she was to afraid to since she had to hide her identity because of that stupid seppuku pledge. Now, the one woman that she desperately wanted to proclaim her love to, instead of run away from wanted her to call her 'Mother.' She was overwhelmed with happiness, and she felt loved. Her look of shock was suddenly replaced by the bright glow of her aura that represented her joy. Without much ado she lifted up her mother in a tight hug, happy to finally be accepted as her child.

"I ... I'd love to call ya, Mother," Ranma said as she continued hugging her mother tightly, "Mom ya know what? I love ya."

_"My, I never knew Ranko was so strong,"_ she thought, surprised at the girl's reaction. She thought that perhaps her daughter was still a bit unsure of being accepted as her child. Maybe she just needed a little reinforcement. Still, she had to admit that it was a bit peculiar, but she was touched by Ranko's display of love and affection none-the-less, and so decided to forget about the little incident. "There now, that is how you were a kimono," she said after her daughter finally put her back down, and she walked up to Ranma and dusted her shoulders off.

"Now let me do your hair," Nodoka continued happily as she untied Ranma's tightly woven pigtail. She unraveled it, brushing it in stead strokes, while recalling how smooth and silky it had been the last time she brushed it. Now it was all rough and tangly.

"Ranko, what on earth have you been doing to your hair? You really shouldn't tie it back so tightly, you're killing it," Nodoka scolded. Ranma got bored and started tuning her mother out as the women continued to lecture her on proper hair care. She heard her mother finish it off, by saying that she would write all this down for her to remember. _"Oh great, now I gotta start taking care of my hair,"_ Ranma grumbled internally. There was nothing else to do, but to sigh and nod her head in agreement.

Blissfully, Nodoka finished brushing Ranma's hair out, and started to put it up into a bun like hers, pinning it up so that it would stay in place. Next, she opened up one of her dresser draws and pulled out a makeup kit. Ranma scowled when she saw what her mother had pulled out, and closed her eyes tightly, as she bit down on her teeth, while her mother started to apply the makeup on her face.

Nodoka saw how upset Ranko looked. She sighed, before putting on a dab of blush on each of her cheeks. She then put a bit of lilac eye shadow on the girl's eyelids. Finally, she finished the job by putting an elegant pink lipstick onto Ranma's lip. When she was done, she looked in the mirror and saw Ranma's reflection standing right next to her. _"Amazing, she looks just like me,"_ thought Nodoka, wondering if her and Ranko could be related somehow, as she saw a smaller clone version of herself standing next to her. She smiled then, thinking that it was meant to be and Kami-sama must have answered her prayers.

"There now, that wasn't so bad. Now was it? Now come along dear. I've made you some lunch," she said. Ranma grimaced, knowing how girly she looked right now, but was happy to at least get something out of this ordeal, as she heard the mention of food. Thinking with her stomach she soon forgot all about how she looked, and happily followed her mother down the stairs.

Nodoka motioned her daughter to sit down, as she sat down her self as gracefully and properly as she could. Ranma on the other hand just plopped down into her chair, before attacking her food like she usually did. A few seconds later, Ranma noticed her mother shaking her head and looking quite distressed, causing the young girl to halt. Nodoka pointed politely to the utensils and the napkin, before telling Ranma about the proper etiquette for a young lady at the dinning table.

"Remember Ranko, it isn't proper for a young lady to sully her dress. So, you should eat carefully, to make sure that you do not drop any food on your clothes. Besides that dear, your eating might be offensive for others to watch. You should always take other people into consideration," Nodoka told Ranma. Ranma grumbled a bit before slowing down her pace to make sure her kimono and face remained clean. Nodoka beamed proudly at her daughter for following through with most of her directives.

"Sorry about how I ate earlier, Mom," she said, while she still couldn't believe that she was able to call her mother 'Mom.' She took a short breath before continuing, "It's just that that's how pops, I mean uncle Genma, no I mean father had taught me to it. If I didn't eat fast enough, he would be able to steal all the food off my plate. He said it was speed training," Ranma admitted, slightly embarrassed for her lack of manners and wanting to express to her mother why it really wasn't her own fault.

"Ranko I'm very proud of you, for the effort you have displayed so far, despite my husband's obvious bad influence," Nodoka said with a mixture of pride and guilt. She would have to have a long talk with Genma. After all, the damage he obviously did to Ranko would take awhile to correct. She just hoped that Ranma, somehow managed to fare better than his newly adopted sister.

"Now Ranko dear, I have a favor to ask of you. I would like for you to help me out with a few things, after you are done. Is that alright?" Nodoka asked as Ranma nodded without hesitation, while finishing off the rest of her food as elegantly as she could. When she was done, she decided she needed to clean up first in the bathroom, before she started on her mother's task.

Onna had skipped back home all the way from the jewelry store. She was gleaming as she entered the house happily, wearing her newly fitted red gem necklace. Nodoka was busily pulling out her finest china from the cabinets, as she heard Onna humming.

"Oh Ranko dear, are you read to help me out now?" She asked, as Onna nodded.

"Yes mother, what do you need help with?" Onna asked. Nodoka rubbed her chin before her eyes lit up, as she remembered her mother's fancy wine glasses, stored away in the attic.

"I know, I would like for you to go up into the attic and bring a box down for me. It's labeled 'Mother's glasses,' Ranko dear," Nodoka instructed, as Onna intently listened to make sure she would do the job right.

"Okay, I'm on it," she said before rushing off to do her job.

Ranma meanwhile, came back out from the bathroom and went to where Nodoka was looking at dishes. "So whatcha want me to do, Mom?" She said, always happy to help out friends and family. Nodoka blinked at Ranko.

"My you finished fast, Hmm well lets see ... Oh yes, There is a stack of fancy cushions in the closet. Would you be a dear and bring them to me?" She requested. Ranma shrugged and went off to the closet that her mother pointed to and slid the door open. She knelt down to crawl into a tight space to retrieve the cushions. As Ranma was doing that, Onna came back down with the box and set it down on the kitchen floor, next to Nodoka. "What now, Mother?" She asked gently.

Nodoka rubbed her head in befuddlement, perplexed as to why her daughter's demeanor kept changing. She was also astonished by how fast Ranko was able to complete tasks. Then again, the girl had amazed her plenty of times, from balancing a bowl on Nodoka's katana to turning the making of a salad into a midair precision based acrobatic act. Nodoka then looked up from the china dishes and her mouth fell open in shock, seeing how dusty Ranko's clothes had become and the fact that she wasn't wearing her kimono or had her hair up in a bun. "Ranko ... what happened to your kimono?" she asked, wondering why the girl was acting so strangely. Onna just looked at her mother in utter confusion.

"Uh ... It's in the closet?" She asked instead of stated as she tried to come up with something quickly. Nodoka thought about it for a bit, figuring that it would make sense for Ranko to take off her kimono before going up into that filthy attic. Pleased with the girl's resourcefulness, she totally forgot about that she had sent Ranko to the attic first, instead of the closet.

"Oh how considerate of you Ranko, you didn't want to ruin it going up into that disgraceful attic. Shame on me for falling behind on my duties and not having cleaned it recently. I shall have to rectify the situation sometime soon, but I am afraid to say that due to my negligence that you are a mess now. So, why don't you run along and take a nice soak in the furo," Nodoka said, while being very pleased with her outstanding daughter. Onna nodded and walked off to the bathroom.

Ranma meanwhile came back from the closet. She was a bit dusty from crawling around in there looking for cushions. But she was happy to do it because her mother had asked her to. "Here ya go, Mom," she said, setting the pile of fancy cushions down at the table.

"My you do everything so quickly Ranko," she said, looking over at her daughter, forgetting just how many things she had asked the young girl to do.

"Now come over here and help me pick out which china to use for the party," Nodoka said, wanting to learn just what kind of taste her adopted daughter had. Ranma shrugged and dusted herself off, before walking over to where Nodoka was looking at two sets of china. The pigtailed girl sweat dropped upon seeing the set with the pandas on them, and found the flowery ones a bit too girly for her taste.

"So?" Nodoka asked in anticipation, "which set do you like Ranko?"

Ranma didn't particularly like either set. In fact she was beginning to wonder if her mother had bad taste. Her marrying Genma did not work too well in her favor. She bit her upper lip as she came up with her choice. She figured that the flowery one would be more to her mother liking and would be more appropriate for a dinner party. In fact, she had this sneaky suspicion that her mother got the panda set, because she thought that Ranko was some sort of pandaphile, because whenever Nodoka visited the Tendo's she would see Ranma with "Mr. Panda." "Ah I guess the one's with the girly flowers on em, Mom," she finally said.

Nodoka eyed the young girl suspiciously, now more than ever she started noticing the differences in her daughter's personalty that she seemed to display. She didn't know if she should go with her basic instincts or if her mind was just playing tricks on her. It almost seemed as if Ranko was two completely different people. One was the wild untamed tomboy that she had grown to know, who spoke like a country bumpkin at times. This Ranko that she remembered was as cute as cute can be The other was more mature but equally a high spirited girl, who wasn't afraid to show off her femininity and in doing so traded off some of her cuteness for beauty. Who spoke a bit more elegantly, although neither were on the same level as their mother in that department. Nodoka realized something. She loved both sides of Ranko, and while she was pleased that Ranko seemed to becoming more mature, she also didn't want to lose that cute tomboy that she had grown to love. If only she could have two of them, she thought.

But still the girl's frequent change in personality seemed to be a problem. Maybe she had put too much pressure on her new daughter. She certainly hoped that the poor thing wasn't forming a multiple personality disorder, in front her very eyes. In any case, it was too early to tell. She decided that she would have to relax, so that her daughter didn't know something was up. She would act like nothing was bothering her, so that Ranko wouldn't get stressed out. But she promised herself, that she would keep a closer eye on the girl to try to figure out what was going on.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does and Kitty, Shogukan, Viz Video and any others I forgot.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Switch a roo, and how do you do.

Ukyou finished cleaning up and sat down on a stool with a glass of melon soda. She looked at Ryouga and studied him intently, wondering what the lost boy was thinking about. Ryouga sipped his own cup, deep in thought, as he rubbed his nose cautiously, grumbling about Ranma's rotten attitude. Ukyou smiled at that and took another sip from her soda, before pulling out a first aid kit from under the counter and set about caring for Ryouga's bruised face by slapping a large cross-shaped patch on his nose.

"There ya go sugar, that'll stop you from messing with it," she informed him before packing up the kit and sliding it back under the counter.

Ryouga looked up sheepishly at her and blushed, while he scratched his bandage.

"You didn't have to do that, you know," he said, feeling touched at the girl's kindness.

"Oh yes I did, sugar! Or else you'll never stop messing with it ... Jeez Ryouga where is your head at today?" She asked, as she wrinkled up her nose, a bit annoyed by his display towards her kindness.

Ryouga giggled a bit before he spoke.

"Thinking about Onna," he said with a lovestruck voice, while looking dreamily at Ukyou, overlaying the image of her with a ghostly one of Onna.

Ukyou frowned and grew furious upon hearing what he had to say. It was just like Ryouga to let her down when she really needed him. She needed him to have his sights set on Akane to increase her own chances of having Ranma all to herself. 'Stupid jerk,' she swore to herself, as she wanted to wrap her hands around his neck and shake some sense into him, before slapping him with the back and front of her hand repeatedly. Instead, she choose to slam her fist down on the counter top, starring angrily into his eyes, hoping that it would cause him to gulp and fidget, thus snapping the lost boy back into reality.

"I thought you said you loved Akane, you Jackass!" She screamed.

"Akane... Oh, I do love her. I'd walk to the ends of the earth for her... But but ... she doesn't seem to love me ... just thinks of me as a friend," he answered subconsciously, not even realizing what he was saying as his conscious side was too busy daydreaming about Onna being his girlfriend.

Ukyou sighed and calmed down a bit, knowing all too well that what Ryouga was saying was the truth. The thing that startled her was that the lost boy had finally realized this himself. For a moment, she felt reluctant to do anything, thinking that it was for the better that he would go on with his life, instead of being hung up on a girl that thought that he was too awkward to be anything other than a friend. No. She couldn't just give up so easily. Not on her lifelong dream of being with her Ranchan, the boy she had grown to love when she was still a child. It just wasn't like her and she had to think of something, quick.

"Look sugar, she's just in denial. I'm sure she loves you. You just have to be a man and go for it. In fact, remember how I helped you the last time? I can do it again, ya know," Ukyou suggested, hoping that the lost boy would grow a spine and do what needed to be done.

Ryouga drifted in and out of reality, just picking up bits and pieces of what Ukyou was saying. After all, Onna in that nightie was much more interesting than Ukyou in her work clothes. It was then that he realized something.

'I ... I've always found Ranma's girl side attractive,' he thought, feeling sick and wishing that he was back to being slammed into a huge boulder during training, instead of being here and thinking about this.

'Uhm ... I guess it's alright. After all, Ranma is an attractive girl ... and besides Onna isn't Ranma. So, it's not like I'm really attracted to Ranma. I mean how could she be? She dresses entirely different from that jerk and she acts like a real girl,' he rationalized, trying to make himself feel better, before recalling how Ranma used to tease him while in his girl form, making him believe that he finally found a girl that he could settle down with. It was Ranma's fault that he was attracted to his girl side.

'Damn you Ranma! Because of you, I'm attracted to you and am having unclean thoughts," he swore internally not realizing how bad it sounded, Oh Ranma was definitely going to pay for swinging that cute butt of his ... err hers.

Ukyou meanwhile, gave up trying to bring Ryouga back into reality, and tossed her gigantic spatula into the corner. It had too many dents from slamming it repeatedly onto that rock hard head of his.

At the Tendos, Akane sat on a floor cushion, munching away on some rice crackers, while watching TV. Kasumi poured some hot tea, and started to sit down next to her sister, when she heard someone at the door. Despite her blissful look, she groaned on the inside, wishing that someone else could answer the door for once, as she got back up and answered it.

Akane listened intently, hoping that it might be Ranma returning already, but became dismayed when she heard her older sister cry out in worry. Akane quickly jumped up from the cushion and walked at a fast pace towards the door. Her mouth still full of bits of crackers flew open in shock of what she saw. There in front of her door, stood a line of impatient delivery people with packages that stretched halfway across the neighborhood.

"Kasumi what's this all about?" Spat out Akane, as bits of crackers flew all over the place.

Kasumi wiped the crackers off her apron, before wringing her hands nervously and shaking her head in dismay.

"Oh my, It's seems like Nabiki has gone crazy and has gone on a spending spree, and soon we won't have enough money for groceries and be forced to live on the streets... Oh dear, I suppose I'll have to make you the proper outfit to be a filthy street urchin, Akane-chan," said Kasumi, filled with a new purpose in life, as she started designing Akane's outfit inside her head.

Nabiki heard her name being mentioned, and appeared walking at a fast pace, seemingly out of nowhere, and started lifting packages, and carrying them inside, while at the same time handling the delivery people. Kasumi shrugged at the sight of an energetic Nabiki and went back inside, figuring that Nabiki was handling the situation. Akane on the other hand knew something was amiss.

Uhm, Nabiki ... Did you actually order all of this stuff?" She Asked.

"Of course I didn't. But, it doesn't matter does it? It's free and that means I don't have to worry about a thing," she said, after setting down one of the packages, and giving her younger sister a curious look.

"Hey look lady, I don't know what you think this is, but I expect to get paid," said a delivery guy who overheard the Tendo and stepped forward, holding his hand out.

"Yeah," agreed another delivery person.

"This ain't no charity," commented another, as the area was soon filled with comments from angry delivery people.

"Listen, I didn't order any of this, so you can just take it all back," huffed Nabiki with her arms crossed, as she looked down at the delivery people, making them want to shrink and shrivel away.

"But you've already opened up several of the packages," complained one of the delivery people.

"But ..." started Nabiki.

"And, you've been munching on a slice of pizza I delivered," said an angry pizza girl, as she pulled up her sleeves and curled up her fingers into fists, ready to teach this stuck-up girl a lesson.

"Oh my, you really shouldn't steal from pizza girls, Nabiki," said Kasumi disappointedly, as she walked by the door, wearing the new oven mitts that Nabiki had ordered for her and pushing the new heavy duty vacuum cleaner around. It was so nice of her sister to think of her.

Akane grumbled and slid the front door shut, leaving her sister to deal with the mess she had gotten into. The last thing she heard before shutting the door was, "someone's gonna pay, one way or another."

Reluctantly, Akane went back into the other room and sat down on her comfy cushion. She sighed, hoping that her sister would be alright, even though she probably deserved it. Suddenly, she noticed grandfather Happosai had returned. He was sitting on his pile of cushions, smoking his pipe, looking content.

"Ah, that should teach the lass a lesson," he said sagely, before letting out a bra-shaped puff of smoke.

Akane grew angry, listening to what the little pervert had to say.

"Just what exactly do you mean, 'teach her a lesson!' This is all your fault isn't it grandfather," she accused him, causing the old man to chuckle and grin at her.

"Ah, it's quite simple my dear. Of course, this is my doing, but can you truthfully say that she hasn't had this coming? Just feel lucky that it isn't you, who is on my bad side, my dear," he threatened, feeling that it was high time that he got some respect around here.

Akane bit her tongue, not sure who to feel sorry for, nor wanting to be the next target of one of Happosai's little tantrums. She also thought about how this might work out for the better for Nabiki, making her think twice before messing with someone life in the future. Perhaps, this was all for the best, she sighed.

Nabiki meanwhile, outside, rubbed on her black eye, as she got out the checkbook to her college savings account. So much for going to school abroad, she sighed, wanting to slap herself on the forehead for not realizing that this was Happosai's doing before. She had seen him do this before to Ranma. She knew his immature style.

'I don't know what your problem is, old freak, but if you want a war, you got one,' she swore angrily to herself, as she started planning the destruction of Happosai.

Back at Nodoka's, Ranma tensed up as she realized how improper she must have sounded, and stayed silent for a moment, trying to figure out how to correct her sudden outburst. She giggled sweetly.

"Oh I'm sorry mother, I meant to say the flower china, because flowers are much more appropriate for a dinner party compared to pandas. Besides, I've grown up a bit and am too old to still be eating off of Panda dishes," she grinned nervously, talking as eloquently as she could since it was not like she didn't know how to but she just preferred talking the way that she did. She stood there smiling at her mother, hoping that she had managed to cover up her error, with that quick comeback.

Nodoka had noticed right away that Ranko had said something unladylike, but she was proud that her daughter had corrected herself and put an effort into speaking properly.

'We'll make a lady out of you yet, Ranko,' she thought while smiling at her daughter.

"You are quite right Ranko, my dear. What a wise decision it is too. I am quite proud of you, dear," she stated, before starting to set up the table with the flower china, as she watched Ranko perfectly mimic her movements fluently. The girl could do anything she observed, she noted proudly.

Onna finished up with her bath and pulled on a t-shirt and some shorts, yawning and stretching before she exited the furo. She went off to her room, unseen by either her mother or her sister, holding on tightly to that red gem of hers. She was happy that everything was turning out so well.

Nodoka meanwhile, finished setting up the table and started looking around to see if she had all the ingredients she needed to make dinner. Ranma sighed and finished setting up her side of the table, carefully scanning the room for an opening she could escape through. Nodoka looked at how pensive Ranko was acting around her, wondering what was wrong because this wasn't her usual way.

"Ranko dear, if it is not too much trouble, could you go outside and check the garden for some fresh tomatoes?" She asked, causing Ranma to look relieved as she nodded, walking out onto the porch and off to the garden.

Ranma looked relieved and nodded, going out onto the back porch to the backyard area. As Ranma disappeared from sight, Onna came walking downstairs wearing a pink kimono with light purple butterflies as opposed to the darker variety that Ranma wore. She had her hair tied up in a bun with some loose ends sticking out, as she happily walked down the stairs, looking gorgeous.

Nodoka looked up as she heard footsteps, and smiled at how much better her daughter looked. She was not a mess anymore, and had put on her kimono perfectly. Too perfectly, in fact, she thought, as she remembered how hard it had been for Ranko to put it on before. She decided not to worry about it, figuring that she wasn't one to complain.

"Ranko dear, it seems I've run out of curry powder. I am ashamed that I can be so forgetful at times. Would you be a dear and run to the store and get some for me?"

Onna smiled and nodded. "I'll be back in awhile then, mother," she said, before taking the money that her mother gave her. As she left the house, Nodoka set about on preparing the dinner, while sinking back into her thoughts.

Kuno walked along side his auntie, Kalu, carefully guarding her from the miscreants that befouled the area. Both Kunos were dressed in formal attire. As he walked, Kuno stared down a group of preadolescent boys, who he figured to be a gang of pickpockets ready to take advantage of his poor auntie. Kalu meanwhile, was walking gracefully in her kimono, intent on reaching her destination, while paying no heed to the antics of her nephew.

"Tatchi, be on your best behavior. I do not want you making a bad impression on my dear friend," Kalu informed her nephew.

Kuno grimaced as he heard his first name being used.

"Must you call me by that foul name," he complained as Kalu gave him a look.

"It's your given name, regardless of how you feel about it. Now I mean it Tatchi, no funny business, or I'll suggest to your father that it is high time for another haircut," she smiled, knowing that should do the trick.

Kuno sighed and gave his aunt a look.

"Fear not dear auntie, for I Tatewaki Kuno shall not bring disgrace and ruin to the name of Kuno," he proclaimed, holding out his Bokken, causing his aunt to smile proudly, before coming to a stop as they neared her friends house.

"We have arrived, my dear Tatchi. Now, remember what I have told you, and besides you never know, there could be some splendid young ladies attending the party," she smiled knowingly.

Kuno, grinned lewdly. He became lost in his own fantasies of the pig tailed girl, his fiery tigress Akane, and now some mystery girl, feeding him grapes and fanning him, as they walked to the door. Finally, his aunt knocked.

Nodoka stopped stirring and went off to greet the guest that she was sure had arrived. Ranma kept stirring her own pot, while slicing the rest of the vegetables, blankly starring off into space as she proceeded to cook flawlessly. No matter how she looked at it, she was stuck here being 'Ranko.' Every time she tried to find some way to sneak off, her mother suddenly appeared behind her with another chore to complete. Besides that, she had come to the conclusion that it would be kind of rude to just leave her mother in the lurch like that. She sighed, realizing how close she was to hot water as she stirred, not wanting to break her mother's heart and escape.

As Ranma was feeling sorry for herself, Onna came in through the back door, and set the curry down onto the counter, and skipped off to her room without noticing Ranma. Ranma didn't notice her sister either, as she continued looking off into space, wondering why her life was so unfair.In her current state, even her uncute fiancée could have snuck up on her, and placed a wooden spoon of toxic waste into her mouth. Too bad for Ranma she could only hope to be so lucky,as she was abruptly brought back into reality by something that sent shivers up her spine, as she heard Kuno's voice.

"Oh god, must've just been ah nightmare, or something," she said, after panting and nervously looking back and forth, before figuring that her mother's house should be the one safe haven from that perverted wannabe samurai.

"Ranko, say hello to our guests," said Nodoka, after having greeted her guests, pleased to see that Kuno was such a good looking boy and thinking that maybe if she was lucky, he would take a fancy for Ranko.

"Pigtailed girl!" Proclaimed Kuno, as he ran out to greet and glomp his goddess.

Ranma groaned and looked around for anyway to escape, she didn't want to know why kuno was here. Nodoka giggled at the boy's nickname for her daughter. "No this is Ranko, she's my daughter."

'Oh crap,' thought Ranma nervously, as she instinctively held out the steaming hot lid to one of the pans, watching Kuno run into it head first, which was followed by a sizzling sound as his skin made contact.

"Oh clumsy me," laughed Ranma nervously, as she saw the look of death her mother was giving her, a look that promised a good old fashion spanking with the blunt side of her katana, later.

"Fear not my pigtailed goddess, for it is not but a scratch," bragged Kuno, trying to lessen the guilt of his reluctant girlfriend.

'Darn, gotta try harder next time,' Ranma thought to herself, as she frowned and turned the lid left and right a few times on his face, getting her into deeper boiling water with her mother.

Kuno loved these rough games that his pigtailed girl loved to play and to show his appreciation, as he decided to envelope her in another hug. A split second later, Kuno hugged the afterimage of Ranma out of existence as the girl reappeared in front of his Aunt.

"You must be a friend of my mother's, pleased to meet ya," she said curtsying to the lady, making Nodoka forget all about her recent transgressions.

"Oh, my daughter is so ladylike," beamed Nodoka proudly.

"Ah, as elusive as ever, pigtailed girl, but fear not for I, Tatewaki Kuno know that the prize that is hardest to catch is worth twice the effort. I vow to thee, pigtail girl that I shall not give up on my quest until I make thee mine," said Kuno, hoping that the pigtailed girl would be touched by his dedication.

Ranma groaned upon hearing that Kuno would never give up, as Nodoka giggled at the boy's nickname for her daughter.

She was truly touched by the boy speech. Such dedication to a girl, could only be described as manly, she thought. She smiled at Kuno.

"No this is Ranko, my daughter," she informed him, as her friend Kalu smiled and looked at her.

"My she looks just like you Nodoka," said Kalu, "are you sure she's adopted?" She whispered curiously into Nodoka ear.

"To be honest, I think the kamis made her for me to answer my prayers," Nodoka answered honestly for everyone to hear, causing Ranma to hope that some kami did not push her into the spring, just to answer some prayer of her mother's.

"Well then, shall we catch up on old times, and let the children get to know each other?" Asked Kalu, hoping that her Tatchi could get a girlfriend out of this. From what she heard from Kodachi, Kuno never even had a girlfriend in his life. It was high time for him to get one, and as his Auntie it was her sacred duty to help him, and what a looker Nodoka's daughter was too.

Nodoka bowed her head in approval.

"Yes we have much to talk about, Kalu. Ranko dear can you finish up things here? I will be back in a little," Nodoka said, before going off with Kalu to the porch, leaving an unhappy Ranma with a dreamy eyed Kuno.

'This is just great. Why do I gotta be the one to stay with him,' she thought, as she huffed and crossed her arms, as she preferred to be on the porch with the other two ladies, while Kuno remained in the kitchen.

"So your name is Ranko? I thought that you said your name was Ranma Saotome, pigtailed girl," Kuno said smirking at the redhead, before readying the ink, 'less he forget the name.

"Uhm, yeah ... I guess ... sorta," started Ranma, "I guess I just like going by Ranma's name at times," she continued to bluff. She then glared at him, realizing that she really didn't care what he thought.

"Look, just call me Ranko for now," she grumbled as she put some curry into the soup and stirred, trying to regain her composer with Kuno in the room.

Kuno smiled.

"So it is you pigtailed girl, it took me awhile to recognize you, since your usual attire is not so formal," he said looking her over.

' He just had to recognize me, didn't he?' Ranma thought, grimacing, as she kept watch over the pots of food, still slicing vegetables.

"So? My auntie is having a dinner party, and I can't wear my usual getup," spat Ranma, already getting tired of Kalu's idea of letting the children get to know each other better. Personally, she preferred getting run over by a steamroller a few times than getting to know Kuno. Life was just so unfair.

Kuno looked confused for a moment.

"No, your mother is having a dinner party," he corrected, as Ranma froze up at what he had just said, realizing her slip.

"That's right, my mother. Gotta problem with that buddy?" She asked, hoping that the quickest way out of the situation was to get confrontational.

Onna finished fixing her hair from the outing, and put on the rest of her makeup. She looked in the mirror one last time, before being satisfied with her appearance. She made her way downstairs, looking around as she descended, her eyes growing wide as she spotted Ranma dressed up in the same outfit, being bothered by an equally dressed up Tatewaki. Onna's heart sank, as she felt guilty for the current situation that she got her twin into.

Ranma looked up, to see who had come down the stairs and had her heart jumped, upon seeing her sister safe, looking back at her.

Ranma was relieved that her sister had been with their mother all this time. Things started making sense too now, as she thought back on her strange encounter with her mother. Ranma had noticed that her mother was keeping a closer eye on her halfway through their encounter, and realized that she must have noticed the different personalities the two sisters had. As she continued to look at her sister, Kuno looked to see what his pigtailed girl was looking at and was shocked to see another pigtailed girl.

"What manner of sorcery is this? Is it not enough for the vile sorcerer Saotome to ensnare my virtuous pigtailed goddess for his perversity? But must he also use his spells and witchcraft to make her two, thus corrupting both? Oh the outrage! Oh come pigtailed goddesses and reveal to me where I might find the coward to smite," he said emotionally, ready to free both goddesses from the clutches of the cowardly warlock who had enslaved them, and make them his.

Ranma acted fast and used a pressure point attack against Kuno.

"That oughta shut him up," she said, thinking, 'thank god for Tofu."

Kuno was rendered motionless. All he could do was watch and listen, completely unable to interfere. Ranma starred at Onna for a moment, feeling as if she was starring at herself in a mirror. The two blinked simultaneously, and opened up their mouths at the same time, only to close them a gain. It was a bit eerie they each thought.

As Ranma continued to look at Onna, she saw that her sister's red gem was glowing beneath her kimono. She also noticed that Onna's Kimono was minutely different from her own, by the color of the the butterflies. She smiled, when she saw that Onna's bun was slightly different from her own. The smile was short lived, as she turned her attention back to the red gem, remembering it's significance. She became upset, knowing that she had smashed it, but yet it had managed to reappear on her sister. She looked worried, wondering if Satan was controlling her sister, worried about the safety of both Onna and her mother.

"Onna?" Ranma asked, deciding to approach her sister cautiously.

Onna's red gem stopped glowing, sensing that this person wasn't a threat to it's master. In fact, it sensed that the person was part of Onna in some way, reassuring it further. Onna meanwhile, had her head down in shame, as she felt guilty for causing Ranma so much trouble.

Ranma concentrated on his sister's aura and relaxed once she sensed that Onna had no negative ki, besides a slight depression. She was relieved that Onna was back to normal, even if she could feel without scanning that she felt guilty.

"Look Sis, it ain't your fault. You were being controlled by him against your will. I'm not mad at you anymore, and neither are the others. But ... Uhm ... right now ... we have a problem," Ranma reassured Onna, which reassured Kuno that the foul sorcerer Saotome was behind it all.

Onna listened to what her twin had to say, and began to feel better as she realized that Ranma didn't hate her. She knew what she said was the truth, she could feel. Ranma smirked, when she felt that her sister was feeling better.

Both twins knew that there were two Ranko's now, and that they would have to tell Nodoka the truth sooner than planned. Ranma shuddered thinking that she would be found out, if she stuck around any longer. Onna realized the same thing, and grew worried about Ranma's safety, as she looked down at the ground, feeling helpless.

"You should go now Ranma ..." she said reluctantly, feeling as if she was stealing Ranma's mother away.

Ranma thought about this and hated herself for hiding from her mother, because of the curse. She knew the manly thing to do would be not to hide, and to tell her mother the truth, regardless of the consequences, even if it meant death. Ranma shook her head no, but appreciated her sister's concern for her welfare.

"No, I've been running away from my problems far too long. A real man would come forward, and that's what I'm gonna do," Ranma said, giving a weak smile to Onna, "besides, we'll both be telling the truth to her, it's better then running away all the time."

Kuno was very confused. There were two pigtailed goddesses in the room and one referred to the other as 'Ranma' while the other referred to her counterpart as 'Onna.' Whatever was going on, he was content on listening, trying to piece the situation together.

Onna looked down on the ground again, knowing what Ranma was thinking, and knowing that there was a possibility that she would receive the same fate, or perhaps something even worst, since she had deceived her mother the whole time. In a way, she felt she deserved it, but she could not stand for anything to happen to Ranma.

Ranma meanwhile, looked at Kuno. He whispered something into the Shakespearian Samurai's ear, before undoing the pressure points. Ranma then grabbed Onna's hand and walked slowly towards the porch not looking forward to what she was about to do.

"By the way, I love you Onna," she said.

"I love you too, Ranma," replied Onna, squeezing her sister's hand tightly.

Kalu rose from her seat, and apologized to Nodoka, after hearing her nephew yell for her and deciding to see what was wrong. Nodoka smiled and looked out at her garden, admiring the flowers she had planted. She realized she had never been happier in her life, and thank the kamis for this opportunity.

She then looked up in awe at the two redheaded twins that stood before her, looking sheepishly. Nodoka stood up from where she sat with a stern expression on her face. The suspicions she had, had at times seemed to have been correct. She wasn't seeing things before. There actually were two Ranko's.

"What is the meaning of this? Which one of you is Ranko?" She asked both angry and hurt, wondering why the girls would play with her feelings like that.

Ranma decided that she had better go first, since she was the one who had pretended to be Ranko beforehand. For once, she wanted to be a man in front of his mother.

"I am ..." she stated bravely, "sorta ..." she finished under her breath, too low for her mother to make out, as she looked down at the ground, unable to utter any more words.

"I'm not," said Onna with a hurt voice, as she looked down at the ground as well, the guilt of lying to Ranma's mother eating away at her. She just wanted to tell her new mother the truth, even if she wouldn't be accepted as her child anymore.

Nodoka looked perplexed and was also a bit annoyed that she had been jerked around by one of these girls. Outraged, she grabbed her katana before thinking and unsheathed it, showing it's sharp edges, while pointing it swiftly to Onna's neck.

"I want an explanation ... and I want it now," she said in such a way that made the girls think of her as a cobra about to strike.

Ranma was shocked, scared to test the reflexes of the cobra that could spell doom to her sister. So instead, she opted to not tempt fate and instead glared at her mother for threatening her sister. Onna gulped as she felt the tip of the blade press against her neck slightly. She had to stop the web of lies now, even if it meant that she would lose her head. She sighed, and looked Nodoka fearlessly into the eyes and began to explain.

"I'm not Ranko," began Onna, not sure where to go next with what she was saying.

Ranma was panicking. She saw what was happening and knew it was real. Her sister would be killed if she didn't do something. She couldn't tell the whole truth, because at the moment it seemed it could get them both killed. However, she would at least try to tell some of it, and besides Nabiki had always told her that the best lies were made up with partial truths.

Ranma collected herself and went into the Soul of Ice. At first, she felt guilty for trying to think of the best way to lie to her mother, but soon the guilt left her completely. Ranma wished that there was a way for Nodoka to recognize Onna as her biological daughter, but telling her the truth about Onna being Ranma's clone was out of the question, because the girl looked too much like herself, and revealing to her mother that she was really Ranma could get them both killed.

The yard grew cold as Ranma thought swiftly about what to do and lost all her emotions to her technique. Searching within herself, she felt Onna presence. Ranma was an expert at using her mind's eye to search deep within herself. It was how she learned to focus her ki into a weapon. How she felt the presence of others around her.

So, using her mind's eye, she found that she was able to somehow connect with Onna's thoughts. Not having time to speak to her sister, she decided to invade her mind instead, carefully going over recent events from Onna's perspective, to make sure that she wouldn't say anything that contradicted something that happened while Onna and Nodoka were alone. Then she came up with her lie.

"Auntie Saotome, she is my twin sister, that you recently met but mistook for myself," Ranma spoke without emotion, using the best grammar she knew since she was in a state of logic.

"You might not have realized it, but she is the girl we both rescued from my parents. The reason you don't remember me being there, is that you thought her and myself were the same person. But, from what I remember you may remember seeing us together, right before you passed out. My sister was afraid to tell you who she was, because she wanted to be accepted by you, so she pretended to be me," Ranma said unemotionally, using the bit she learned from reading Onna's mind about Nodoka thinking that Satan was Onna's real father.

"Your twin sister? Ranko why didn't you tell me that you had a twin sister?" Nodoka asked, guilt-ridden, as she pulled the katana away from Onna's neck, as her eyes tearing up, looking at Ranma.

Shivering from the cold, Onna took a chance to try to help her sister out, although she was impressed with how smoothly Ranma had lied to Nodoka.

"The truth is mother ... auntie ... I'm really a clone of Ranko, created from her DNA," she said, happy with herself because it was the truth, in a way.

Nodoka looked like she wasn't fully buying the clone thing, so Ranma decided to step back in and lie further, using the Soul of Ice technique.

"You see mother, a little after your husband and son left you for their training trip, Uncle Soun kidnapped me from my parents, in order to save me. As you have witnessed, my father has become a full fledge demon. It was decided that in order to hide me from my father, I was to accompany Uncle Genma and Ranma on their training trip. It is why I am the martial artist that I am. It is also why I dress and act like Ranma, and even wear my hair in a pigtail like his. In a way, you could say that I am his sister, and know him better than anyone else. Being raised by Genma is also why I have little to no social graces and act like a boy," Ranma lied using half-truths to convince her mother.

"When I returned to Nerima, my mastery in the art helped protect me from my father. However, he recently was able to obtain a sample of DNA, from myself and used it to create my twin. Unfortunately, he somehow was able to use demonic sorcery to find a way to control my dear sister. That is until both you and I rescued her from his clutches and I managed to destroy the demonic necklace used to control her. The necklace she has now, is to protect her from his control," explained Ranma using mostly the truth, as she came out of the Soul of Ice.

Nodoka nodded thoughtfully, now that Ranko brought demons into the picture, it all made sense. After all, half the people in Tokyo were at least part demon she figured, with demon hunting being one of her favorite pastimes. The girl she had assaulted was indeed Ranko's sister then, regardless of the fact that she was cloned. This made Nodoka happy. If this girl could find it in her heart to forgive her, Nodoka could have two daughters. It was as if the kamis had answered her wish from earlier in the day. Now if only, Ranma were to return, she thought as she saddened slightly.

"Let's start over then dear, tell me your real name," she said, gently smiling at the girl that stood there.

"It's Onna ..." said the girl who was again touched by Nodoka's kindness towards her, but she felt now that she shouldn't stay.

Nodoka blinked upon hearing the girl say her name, which wasn't a proper name at all, since it merely meant woman. Nodoka shook her head, feeling sorry for the girl before her. It seemed like the girl who named herself Onna, had no real family to teach her to know better. Naming oneself Onna, just wasn't proper. There were a lot of men, who would use her name against her in a derogatory manner. Nodoka sighed.

"No dear, that simply won't do. Why don't you take a new name?" She encouraged the girl.

Onna looked confused. She had no idea that there was anything wrong with her name. Ranma also was confused by her mother's actions. She couldn't figure out what her mother had against her sister's name. So, she decided to speak up on the behalf of her sister.

"Mother what's wrong with Onna's name?"

Nodoka shook her head and gave Ranma a look of dismay, before speaking without thinking further.

"I guess your mother neglected to teach you many things Ranko. The word Onna merely means woman and nothing more. That is not a proper name for a young lady, and one which men could take advantage of," explained Nodoka.

"You're right, but then I didn't have a mother to teach me things. You forget I was raised by Uncle Genma," said Ranma, whose grammar was an aftereffect of the Soul of Ice, as she was still cool and collective.

Nodoka felt ashamed for criticizing the girl, her daughter, for her shortcomings, which her husband was responsible for. She swore to herself once more that Genma and her would have a long talk when this was over.

"I'm sorry dear, I wasn't thinking."

Onna meanwhile had been listening intently the whole time. The thing that Nodoka said had hit her like a ton of bricks. The name that she carried was meaningless. It wasn't a name at all. It was just a word that meant woman and nothing more. A fitting name for a meaningless clone such as herself.

"I'm not Ranko. I don't even have a real name. I just pretended to be Ranko, just like I pretended to exist," Onna said hurting, holding her head down low, wishing that she would just disappear into thin air, and to never appear again.

Nodoka grew angry at how Onna was acting, and what the girl had just said. She couldn't hold it back any longer, and slapped the girl across the face in hopes of snapping her out of her depression.

"You do not pretend to exist. You are here right now. You are my daughter, as you are Ranko's twin sister. True you are not Ranko and that is what makes you special. You are an entirely different person from her, just as beautiful as she is but in your own way. You are indeed your own person, and I will not have any daughter of mines, self-loathing herself," Nodoka said, hoping to get through to her daughter.

Ranma looked miffed, she partly blamed the current situation on her mother and was still mad about her putting her katana on Onna's neck. Ranma was also very worried about how her sister would react. She was currently too upset to feel her sister feelings. She hoped that Onna would listen to what their mother had to say, because it was the truth.

Onna held her hand to her face, feeling the spot where Nodoka had slapped her hard. She heard Nodoka's words repeat over and over again in her head. She knew what the woman before her said was true. She did exist, and she was quite different from Ranma. Slowly she let her hand drop down and off her face, as she looked up at Nodoka.

"You're right, and it's time I acted like it. From now on, I'll shall be known as Ranka," Onna told her mother.

Nodoka's eyes lit up and she smiled, happy that the girl decided to exist and start over, after having picked out a real name.

"That's the spirit, Ranka," she chirped cheerfully, finding herself crying out of happiness, joyful that her wish for having both Ranko's came true.

Ranma was happy to see her sister finally embrace her own existence, and hugged her happily.

"You know though, I still don't see what's wrong with Onna. I kinda liked it," she said, feeling more herself.

"Ranko," complained Nodoka, upset that Ranko was encouraging her sister.

Ranka laughed.

"Fine then, it can be my middle name, for friends and family only," said Ranka, happy with her sister. She still had some emotional attachments to her old name.

"Very well then," said Nodoka, upset but feeling that since she asked for so much, that she should be willing to compromise a little.

"Thanks mom," said both the girls as they rushed over to hug their mother, not noticing that Kuno had walked out and was observing them. His aunt on the other hand had taken over the dinner preparations. As he continued watching, Kuno froze up at the sight of the twin goddesses holding one another and the older version of themselves.

"Fair ones, no! I will save you from the bonds of spinsterhood," he swore as he leaped into the air and towards the girls.

Ranka gave Kuno a chilling expression. He was so loud and annoying that he had given her a headache, and now she just wanted to pound and strangle him. Ranma already was familiar with Kuno and was always ready to pound and strangulate the jerk, so she cracked her knuckle in anticipation. Nodoka meanwhile had mixed emotions. On one hand, she found that wanting to save two girls from the bonds of spinsterhood to be very manly. On the other hand, it was obvious that her girls didn't enjoy this guy's attentions, and it was very unmanly to force your unwanted attentions on a lady. So, she decided to stick to the side of her children as she gripped onto her katana and glared at Kuno.

Before anyone else had a chance to react, Ranma decided to shut Kuno up quickly by punching him hard in the face, the impact of which sent Kuno flying face first into the ground, unconscious.

"What a jerk," complained Ranma.

Ranka nodded her head in agreement.

"I think spinsterhood was invented 'cause of guy's like him," observed Ranma.

Ranka giggled, she thought that Ranma at times was more a girl than she knew. Ranka then turned around,just in time to be hugged by her Mother. Nodoka clung onto the girl tightly, never wanting to let go, for fear that she might suddenly disappear. But, she noticed her daughter's sudden discomfort and let go. She then gazed down at the unconscious form, knowing that something had to be done quickly.

"Now really Ranko, could you not have solved that problem with less violence? Now, what am I to tell poor Kalu?" she wondered, as she stuck a finger to her lips and thought.

"Hey, it's the only thing that works, besides that's what Uncle Genma said to do in these kinda situations," shrugged Ranma, not worried in the least.

"Ranko, have you ever considered that your Uncle Genma may not be the wisest of people?" Asked Nodoka, upset that Ranko was picking up so many bad habits from her husband.

"Ah don't worry, the jerk ah wake up soon enough," she said, looking over at her sister and seeing how happy she was. Ranma was glad for Ranka. At least one of them could be there for their mother. She didn't think it could be her, the water attracting part of her curse just made things too dangerous. She needed to be alone for awhile to think, so she thought of something quickly.

"Uhm Mom I'll be back, I need to use the bathroom. Think I smudged up my makeup and stuff," she said, and before Nodoka could react, Ranma took off to the bathroom to be alone.

"What a silly girl," Nodoka thought out loud.

Nodoka then turned her full attention to Ranka, admiring her new daughter.

"Now Ranka, while I go and try to explain things to my dear friend Kalu, I want you to get that boy up and back into the dining area. Do you mind doing that for me, dear?" She asked, hoping that it wasn't asking too much of her daughter.

Ranka thought for a second and then shook her head in agreement. She would do anything for Nodoka, no matter how much she disliked doing it.

"I can handle it mother, you just work on your friend till I can calm him down," she said smiling, as she gently pushed her mother off in the direction of the kitchen. After her mother disappeared, she sighed and ran her finger through her hair, as she was about to go through the unpleasant task of waking a Kuno. Before she could do anything, she noticed Kuno stir and come to.

Kuno opened his eyes slowly, his vision a bit blurred. He looked around and set his sight on the girl before him. His eyes shot open, remembering what had happened.

"Oh pigtailed girl, thou have come to comfort me in my greatest hour of need. I see that treacherous soul has forced me upon these very knees with a sleeping incantation. Quick now, tell me where the vile sorcerer Saotome is hiding, so I can smite the coward to the very ends of the earth and at last free my three loves from his foul and rotted clutches," Kuno said courageously.

Ranka smacked her hand to her face at how moronic this idiot was acting. She decided to try to reason with him, instead of pounding him, hoping that would make things easier in the long run for her so called vile and sorcerous brother.

"Listen to me carefully Kuno. Neither me nor Ranko is under any kind of spell, and I do not appreciate you calling my brother a vile sorcerer. Okay? Also, I wish you would refrain from calling me pigtailed girl," She said with her hands on her hips, looking quite irritated, wondering if she should go ahead and pound the jerk anyway.

"You do not like thy nickname, pigtailed girl? I think it suits you quite splendidly, pigtail girl," Kuno, said as he rubbed his chin, quite thoughtfully, considering what the pigtailed one had told him.

Ranka fumed at how he kept ignoring what she said, as ki sparked at her fingertips. No matter how hard she tried, she found herself getting angrier and angrier with him.

"Listen, the name is Ranka, not pigtailed girl," she yelled, daring him to challenge her.

Kuno's eyes lit up as he remembered the scene from earlier. He had seen two pigtailed girls, but couldn't quite remember the rest since one of them had put some sort of spell on him.

Ranka became worried upon noticing how quiet the lunatic had become. She knew that he had seen her with her sister, but she wasn't quite sure how much he had remembered, being constantly knocked out. She may have already said too much by mentioning Ranma's girl side name. She briefly considered letting Kuno think that he had imagined seen another pigtailed girl. From what she could recall from her sister's memories, the fool was delusional enough to make him think that he had confused things. again Telling him the truth about Ranma's curse wouldn't work either, she figured, basing the assumption on her brother's past tries.

"Listen Kuno, I'm not the pigtailed girl that you know. That's my sister Ranko," she said satisfied that this was the right path to take.

Kuno gave the girl his full attention. His eyes sparkled as he heard that they were twins, knowing what she told him inherently made sense. He still felt the need for the second pigtailed girl to put some of his suspicions to rest.

"So what relations does Ranma Saotome have with you and your sister?" He blurted out, fearing the answer.

"I already told you that Ranma is our brother," she yelled, glaring, annoyed for having to repeat herself and amazed at the thickness of the boy's head.

Kuno grumbled as he heard the truth.

"I see. I would like to discuss this further, but alas it appears that our presence is being sorely missed at the gathering. Please accept my most sincere apologies for holding you up, my dear Ranka," he said, bowing to her.

Ranka nodded, her arms folded across her chest.

"Perhaps later, but like you said, there is a dinner party that your holding up. So lets get going," she said, before walking off towards the kitchen area with Kuno following two steps behind her.

As they both made their way into the kitchen, Kuno walked over to his aunt and stood by her, as Ranka did the same with her mother. Nodoka was happy that Ranka had finished her task. She was quite pleased that the boy had been calmed and wasn't a problem anymore. She smiled at her more mature daughter.

"Oh Kalu, this here is my daughter Ranka. She is Ranko's twin sister," Nodoka said, using this opportunity to brag in her own way. Kalu meanwhile, smiled kindly at Ranka. She had already know about Ranma and Ranka from her chats with her best friend. She wondered why Nodoka had never mentioned Ranka to her before.

"Why hello dear, my aren't you the spitting image of both your mother and your sister," she said before falling into a mad high pitched laugh, that was similar to Kodachi's.

Kuno shuddered, as he thought about his mentally ill sister. Ranka froze upon hearing the most dreadful sound, bringing flashes back of her brother's unwanted memories. Nodoka cringed at hearing her friends familiar laugh. She frowned thinking that it was so inappropriate and unladylike, but she loved her friend all the same. The noise was so harsh that she felt the desperate urge to cover her ears. Too bad, she was too much of a lady to do so, and she just frowned waiting for the rude display to come to an end.

Ranma heard the infamous cackle as she was washing herself up in the bathroom, and jumped up in fright, whacking her head against the ceiling.

"Ouch," she complained as she fell back down, and slipping on a bar of soap that she had knocked down, before knocking the back of her head against the floor.

"Oh," she moaned, holding the back of her head, "what the heck is she doing here?" She asked herself, wondering if her day could get any worst. Rubbing her temples, she decided to get up, limping a bit. There was no way that she would leave her mother and sister alone with that crazy girl she swore, as she made her way to the door, fixing the sash on her kimono as she went. As she entered the kitchen limping, the cackling died down and she avoided the looks she was getting from the Kunos and her family.

"Oh dear, what happened to you Ranko?" Asked a concerned Nodoka, as she saw her daughter bruised up.

"I sorta had a little accident in the bathroom," admitted Ranma.

"Oh my, you're clumsy Ranko," commented Nodoka.

"Looks like there was nothing little about it," added Ranka.

"Alright, alright already, I thought I heard Kodachi and slipped," frowned Ranma.

"Oh so you know my dear Dachi," said Kalu, feeling guilty for the little mishap that she caused.

"Yeah sorta," admitted Ranma, reluctantly.

"My you wouldn't be that pigtailed hussy that she so goes on about, would you? The one who is always trying to steal her dear Ranma away from her?" Questioned Kalu, causing Nodoka to frown at Ranko being called a hussy, before beaming as she thought about the statement.

"In the flesh," admitted Ranma.

"Oh my, my son is so manly, seducing both Ranko and Kodachi when he's already engaged to Akane," said Nodoka, causing glares from Ranko, Ranka and Tatchi, while Kalu nodded in agreement.

"Hey! Yo! Now, cut that out," fussed Ranma, "I ain't interested in Ranma. I mean, I am his sister for heaven's sake."

"My you certainly aren't anything like Kodachi described you dear. I'm sure she'll be pleased to know that you aren't trying to steal her dear Ranma away and in fact are a very loving sister to him," said Kalu, hoping that Ranko and Ranka could be friends with Kodachi, like she was friends with Nodoka.

"Why thank you, Auntie Kalu," giggled Ranma-chan, hating the fact that Kalu would be encouraging Kodachi to go after her boy form now.

"Now Kalu, who is this fine young man that you have brought along with yourself? Everything has been so hectic that I never had a chance to ask," Nodoka bowed apologetically to her two guest.

Kalu waved her hand around, a gesture showing Nodoka that it was no big deal.

"This here is my nephew, Tatchi," she said ruffling up his hair playfully. Kuno immediately pulled out a hairbrush and brushed his hair back into place, as he posed for the girls, giving his aunt a slight glare, warning her not to do that again.

"I am Tatewaki Kuno, but please Misses Saotome, just call me Kuno," he bowed showing his future mother-in-law respect.

"My how courteous and manly," said Nodoka bowing back to Kuno, causing her to get glares from both her daughters.

"It is pleasure to meet you Kuno," she smiled at him

"Now Tatchi, what have we told you about calling yourself Tatewaki? You shouldn't be ashamed of your real name," fussed Kalu, causing both Ranka and Ranma to giggle at hearing that his name was really Tatchi.

"Now girls, we should finish preparing dinner," Nodoka said to get her girls to stop giggling at Kuno's name, "please Kalu, Kuno sit down while me and my girls prepare things."

As the Kuno's took their places on their cushions, Nodoka started to gather some of the dishes, before looking over at the twins.

"You two seem like you need to talk. So, I'll bring most of the things out, but do try to help your dear mother a little if you can," she told her mischievous girls, remembering how she was equally as mischievous at that age. She then walked off into the dining area with some prepared dishes. Ranma and Ranka both nodded in understanding.

"So what did you tell Kuno?" Ranma asked, curious as to why Kuno had mellowed out.

"Well I told him part of the truth, that you, I and 'Ranko' are siblings. Now I really didn't want to try to explain more to him, like your curse," Ranka said, feeling she had handled things perfectly.

"Ah Kuno's so dense that he'd probably never believe it anyway. But thanks anyway, maybe things will be a little easier with him," Ranma said doubtfully.

"Well there's a lot we should go over later, but right now mom is counting on us Ranma. We should go and help her," smiled Ranka as she grabbed her sister's hand. They each grabbed some dishes and rushed off into the dinning room. Ranma sighed as she served the dishes. She wanted to be able to sit down and really get to talk to her sister about things. But, they were always interrupted in some manner or another. Hopefully later they would have a chance.

After all the dishes were served, the girls and their mother decided to join the two Kunos at the table. Pretty soon everyone was enjoying a wonderfully prepared meal, since both Ranma and her mother were excellent cooks. As she savored the taste, Ranka wished that she would have had a chance to display her own culinary skills, but unfortunately her mother kept her busy the whole time with other chores. Kuno meanwhile, found himself in a trance as he starred back and forth between the two sisters, only stopping every once in awhile to take a bite in.

'So different, yet so alike,' he thought to himself, as he noted that Ranka was the more mature of the two.

Ranma grumbled under her breath as she caught Kuno starring at her sister and her the whole time. She didn't know what bothered her more, Kuno being interested in her, or Kuno being interested in her sister. She didn't want Kuno or any of the guys that she knew to be after her. In fact as she thought about it, most of the guys at her school were perverts, remembering how many used to be members of the Hentai Squad. No wonder that Akane hated boys, she huffed as she grew angry about it.

Nodoka looked unease as she noted the tension between Kuno and Ranko. It was all one sided as Ranko would glare at him, mumble something under her breath, and then huff out loud. Being the proper hostess that she was,she decided to try to put a stop to it. She got up and picking up empty dishes to carry them back to the kitchen.

"I'm glad that everybody seems to have enjoyed dinner so much and is almost done. I will be back with dessert momentarily," she walked off, hoping that Ranko and Kuno wouldn't start anything, until she had some treats to pacify them with. She really wished that Ranko could be more mature like her other sister, she sighed.

Ranka finished her dinner and sipped some of her tea from her cup, until she noticed Kuno hovering over her, which caused her to spit it out onto Kuno's face.

"Ugh!" She coughed a few times, "don't surprise me like that!" She said angrily, as Kuno's face dripped.

Ranma couldn't help but laugh at seeing his so called rival's face dripping, always happy to enjoy an embarrassing moment of Kuno's.

"Yeah stupid, don't sneak up on my sister like that," mocked Ranma, as she gave a stern look to Kuno. Kalu was also enjoying the situation. It reminded her of how much fun it was watching Tatchi's father embarrass himself, when they were younger.

Kuno saw the girls praising him, instead of mocking him and so was ready to glomp onto both of them, when Nodoka came back. Not seeing a stark raving mad Kuno, she set the cake gently down onto the table, admiring the job she had done decorating it. It was her best work ever, she thought proudly, as she let some air of contentment escape her lips.

Such feelings of contentment were soon lost, as she became startled, when Kuno made a mad dash across the table, to get to his pigtailed loves, sending the cake flying up into the air in the process. Nodoka just looked up with an open mouth, as she watched what felt like her life's work flying through the air. Kalu watched her friend in amusement, thinking that she really took such things too seriously.

Ranma and Ranko each grabbed plates, as they watched the cake fly through the air, while calculating various trajectories, before signaling each other to get ready. The three others, watched in amazement as Ranma and Ranka jumped through the air doing aero-acrobatics, slicing the cake midair, and landing with the pieces undamaged, and perfectly situated on the various of plates they balanced.

"Hey not bad," admired Ranma, watching his sister balance a plate on each hand and one on her head.

"Well, you're not so bad yourself," smiled Ranka, as she saw Ranma with a plate on each hand, and another twirling on top of the sneaker on her raised foot.

Nodoka sighed in relief, slowly calming herself now that the cake was out of danger. She had wanted to use the cake to celebrate Ranka finally realizing that she was more than just a clone and to cheer her new daughter up. She smiled at Ranka, who smiled back.

Kalu meanwhile, applauded out of sheer enjoyment over the entertainment that she was receiving. She could not remember the last time she had so much fun. Nodoka children were simply amazing, she thought while marveling at their reflexes. She would have to come over and visit her friend more often, now that those wonderful girls were back in her life. She did not buy that adoption bit, one bit.

"My Nodoka, what talented girl's you have. They must take after you," she said winking, wondering if Nodoka had told them of the secret. She stood there a bit wondering. That had to be it. Nodoka had sent the girl's away like Ranma to protect them. The adoption bit was just for their sake, since they did not know that Nodoka was their real mother. Kalu smiled some more, proud for finally figuring it out and being so smart.

"Oh, thank you Kalu. I suppose that you are right, all three of us are quite fluent in the art," Nodoka said flushing at the compliments that she and her daughters were receiving. Ranma smiled in pride, seeing that his sister was just as good as him and hearing that his mother practiced the art. Ranka on the other hand was embarrassed about how her mother started bragging about them to Kalu.

Kalu nodded happily, as Nodoka told her some of the feats that she had seen Ranko do, before talking about her own feats in the art. As she was listening, Kalu took a sip from her glass of tea. Kuno on the other hand was formulating a plan. He figured that since his aunt showed so much interest in the two girls, that it was the perfect timing to convince her that one or both, preferably both, were perfect candidates for joining the ranks of the Kuno family.

"And such is fate that Ranko's and Ranka's parents and my own engaged us long before any of us were even born," He smiled to himself, confidently looking at both Ranma and Ranka.

Kalu shook her head at her nephew, for making such a thing up, but she couldn't blame him for trying. After all, Ranko and Ranka were two amazing young girl. She would be proud to have them Kunos.

"Oh Tatchi, always joking like that," she said, causing both Ranma and Ranko to let out sighs of relief, "But you have to admit, it does sound like a good idea, doesn't it Nodoka," she finished to the fright of the two young girl's.

Nodoka rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She had Ranma engaged to that sweet girl Akane, so she would have to find someone suitable and manly for each of her two beautiful daughters. Although, she wasn't too sure that Kuno was it, not after what he did to that cake, and besides that her daughters seemed a little put off by him. Still she always loved Kalu and would love to join the families, so she would have to think further about this, and discuss it with the girls. She was about to answer, but was interrupted.

"Eew ah no! You can't!" Exclaimed Ranma.

"Yeah she's right," agreed Ranka.

"And why not my dears?" Inquired Kalu.

"Um ... I'm not Kuno's type?" Ranma said, trying to come up with a reason, any reason. She quickly came to see the error of her ways for answering first. She hated the fact that she was now receiving all of Kalu's attention as opposed to it being equally divided between the two.

"And how would you know that, my dear, without even going on a date with him?" Asked Kalu, carefully laying out her trap.

"Well ...", Ranma said trying to think quickly for a way out of the trap, "oh yeah! 'Cause I've been on ah date with that jerk," she countered as Ranka was laughing at her slip, "so I guess that just leave's Ranka then," Ranma finally finished.

"Hey!" Yelled Ranka feeling betrayed.

"Ranko!" Fussed Nodoka, thinking that a proper young lady shouldn't be going out on dates at that age unsupervised.

"Oh, so there is something you like about my Tatchi," beamed Kalu.

"Yeah, you must like him to date him," agreed Ranka, getting a little payback.

"No! I just went on the date because he had something that I needed," Ranma tried to explain, while Nodoka glared at her. It just wasn't right to go on a date with someone just because they had something that you wanted.

"That's right my pigtailed goddess had an affliction of the body that needed curing," Kuno said to the horror of Ranma, who was sure now that she would get engaged to Kuno for this.

"Ah," observed Kalu, not having realized just how heated things were between Tatchi and Ranko.

"Not, on a first date," fussed Nodoka, deeply disappointed in her daughter.

"Hey! It's not what it sounds like," Ranma tried to explain.

"That's right. That's the time Kuno had the wishing sword and Ranko wanted him to use a wish to cure her. You see, mother, Ranko has a bodily ailment that she rather embarrassed about. She went on the date out of desperation, hoping that Kuno sword could cure her. Unfortunately, he accidentally used the one remaining wish for something else," Ranka jumped in for the rescue, causing Nodoka to plan on taking her girls to a doctor to get checked out.

"Yeah, besides I'm already taken," declared Ranma, determined to end any further discussion of her being engaged to Kuno, or even dating him. Nodoka meanwhile was a bit taken back, she would have to find out who this young man was that her daughter was seeing.

"Well in any case, I'll will have to think about it and discuss it with my girl," Nodoka finally put in.

Kalu nodded, and decided not to press the matter any further as she noted how upset Ranko and Ranka looked, and that Nodoka looked abit miffed. Kuno on the other hand wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by just like that.

Kalu nodded and decided not to press the matter any further, seeing how upset Ranko and Ranka looked about the idea, and that her friend looked a bit miffed about the cake. Kuno on the other hand wasn't going to let this opportunity pass by. He knew that he loved the pigtailed girls. He knew that he would have to make them his.

"Oh I see what ails my pigtailed goddesses. For they are both in love with the dashing young noble that is myself. Yet one can't bare to hurt the other, knowing full well how the other would suffer, forever doomed to despair, for not having been choose by the one they love most. Fear not my loves, for while I do not like to brag, the heavens themselves have blessed me with intellect far outweighing that of any normal soul, and I have come up with a plan that shall make us all bask in the glory of the gods. For I shall date thee both!" Kuno said as he saw his loves become overcome with joy and love for him.

Overcome with rage, Ranka and Ranma slammed their fists simultaneously into his face, sending him flying out of his chair and through the wall, and finally seeing him hit the ground outside. Ranma wanted to yell at the fool. She wanted to go outside and beat him black and blue, but she knew that she had already gone too far with her violence at the table. Ranka on the other hand, just wanted to leave the scene for the safety of her room. She wanted to be alone, because she was utterly disgusted with Kuno's pathetic attempts to snag her.

Nodoka was speechless. She stood there with her hand over her mouth, shocked at the improper manner in which her daughter's behaved. She could expect this from Ranko, but she had thought that Ranka to be more mature. Still, in a way, she couldn't blame them. So, she decided to let the matter drop, thinking that while it may have been manly to go after two girls at once, the pompous way that Kuno went about wooing her two girls was very unmanly, indeed.

Still, she needed to apologized to her friend. She turned to her friend, while finding the courage within herself to apologize. She didn't want to lose someone she had been close to, since childhood. As she started to apologize, Kalu threw back her head and laughed out loud, having enjoyed every bit of the show before her.

"Please Nodoka it's quite alright, I'm quite sure my nephew deserved it. I suppose, I'll will need to teach him how to talk to young ladies, so he doesn't repeat his mistake in the future. Don't worry about the damage, I'll have someone over first thing tomorrow morning to repair it," smiled Kalu. She was not put off at all at how the Saotome twins had beat her Tatchi. In fact, she thought that they would make great Kunos, especially considering that it was quite common for a female Kuno to administer such punishment on a male Kuno. The males did tend to be quite block-headed at times. She just would need to teach Tai chi, the proper way to woo these two.

Nodoka was quite relieved that her friend was not angry, over the twins' misbehavior. She was so relieved in fact that it put her into a better mood.

"Shall we start on desert then? We will just have to save some for Kuno, for when he wakes up," she said, as they all started serving themselves desert.

As everyone else enjoyed their cake, Ranma nibbled on hers. She had a lot to think about. For one, she had started out the afternoon, wanting to tell her mother the truth. Now however, she was stuck in a bigger lie. Her mom would probably expect her to move in with her and Ranka. She would have to explain things to her father and the Tendos. Her father, was going to be mad but it was not like it was her fault that her mother had dragged her here. She sure hoped that her mother lived in the Furikan school zone, because that way she could change clothes and go to school as herself. She certainly didn't want to be enrolled in a new school as a girl. Things just got more complicated.

I do not own any of Ranma 1/2 or it's characters, the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Viz Video, Kitty, Shogukan and any others that i forgot to mention.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Trouble brews

Nodoka smiled with satisfaction from how well the meal went, as she set her utensils down, thus signaling to everyone else that she was done eating. Kalu who had finished earlier, sipped contently on a glass of wine, before putting the glass down. There was nothing like finishing off a good meal with a glass of wine, she thought as she smiled back at her friend.

"You know Nodoka, it's been awhile since we've seen each other, and it's been way too long since we went out together for a friendly stroll. How about we go on a stroll for old times sake, while we leave the children here to bond?" She asked, hoping to spend some quality time with her best friend and learn some of the more juicy details about the two girls.

"What a splendid idea Kalu! Ranka, Ranko ... you two wouldn't mind, now would you?"

Ranma forced herself to smile and shook her head yes, "Oh no mom, we don't mind. Right Ranka?"

'Oh this is just great! This just gotta be another lousy attempt by Auntie Kalu to set us up with Kuno," Ranma thought bitterly, thinking that while she liked Kalu, the lady's constant attempts of setting her up with Kuno were really starting to get annoying.

Ranka nodded and smiled at Nodoka, "Yeah we don't mind, mother."

'A stroll sounds nice. I don't see why we can't come along, instead of having to stay here with that stupid idiot,' she grumbled internally.

Nodoka smiled proudly at the two cheerful looking girls, as she admired them. She could tell that they were holding back something, but she being who she was knew she would get to the bottom of it later. It was best to let them think that she was unaware that something was askew.

"Now you must tell me," Kalu said as she put her hand on Nodoka's shoulder, as they vacated the Saotome home, "who's older, your girls or your boy?"

Ranma wiped the smile off her face, as soon as she saw her mother leave with Kalu, and flopped down onto the couch, sighing. Ranka went over to where Ranma was and leaned against the arm of the couch.

"Now, I thought you were going to tell her the truth?" She chided, "What happened, Ranma?"

Ranma clenched her fist and began to glow, remembering how she chickened out at the last moment. It was hardly manly, she thought. Upset with herself, she bit down on her lip, before speaking.

"I don't know. I was all set to and I really wanted to, but then ... I guess I got scared," she admitted, hanging her head down as her aura became green and then dissipated. She then became embarrassed, realizing what she admitted and started to blush profusely. She wanted to kick herself for being so damn stupid.

Ranka tilted her head from side to side, curious and a bit confused by her twins awkwardness. She didn't think of looking deep within herself, to find how much Ranma hated to admit to fear. She didn't remember all those times that Genma teased her sister about being nothing more than a weak pathetic girl, causing Ranma to gain a complex about her manliness which was worsened by her curse and her mother.

Ranma meanwhile calmed herself down, and looked up lovingly into Ranka's eyes and smiled.

"Ah well, at least one of us got to tell her the truth, and you'll be able to be there and comfort her, while I'm not gonna be able to," Ranma said, thinking that she would have to abandon her mother again, knowing full well that it was next to impossible to keep hidden. Well, she thought, she did manage to hide it from everybody at school, if it wasn't for that damn panda, it would probably still be a secret. Then again, it was for the best, the panda had saved Akane's reputation.

'Thank you, pops,' she thought sincerely, as Ranka gave her a stern look, while resting her hands on her hips.

"Now look Ranma, you do know you'll have to tell her eventually, or she's gonna find out on her own? She's a very smart woman, you know. You might think she's is clueless, but she's not.

"Look I already know what I should've done, and I know all about what's honorable and not. The thing is it is hard to do the right thing, when doing it can lose ya your head, over something your not to blame for in the first place. You know, I've heard her. She'll do it outta honor, if she don't find me manly enough."

Ranka stepped back out of surprise. "And, you ... you actually think that I would let her hurt you?"

"Well that's just it. I don't want you and mom fighting on the account of me," Ranma grumbled right before kuno started to come to, "Oh that's just great," she huffed, crossing her arms before angrily turning her back on him.

Ranka frowned, noticing Kuno waking up as well, which meant that the conversation was over.

"Well hopefully mom will be back soon ... but in the meantime you'll just have to grin and bare it," she added unhappily.

Kuno opened his eyes and looked around, in a confused daze, till he set his sights on the two pigtailed twins talking to each other.

'Yes! It wasn't just a dream. It was really real! I really am destined to be blessed to have two pigtailed goddesses,' he thought while looking from one girl to the other, his heart pounding heavily as he studied them intently, trying to pick out the differences between the two.

"Excuse me, but which one of you is my pigtailed goddess?" He asked, causing Ranma to shiver at the possessiveness of the 'my' in the statement.

Ranma grumbled, clenching her fist as she got up from her spot on the couch, walking over to Kuno before whacking him on the head, intent on knocking him out again.

"I ain't nobody's pigtailed goddess, especially your's. You got that, jerk?" She yelled. Unfortunately for Ranma, Kuno had developed an immunity to lighter blows to his head and was still conscious, bemoaningly rubbing the newly formed bump on his head.

"It really is you, my pigtailed love," Kuno said with love dripping out of his voice, as he gently rubbed the knot on his head away, before springing up to his feet with renewed vigor.

"Boy, you really do need a good psychiatrist," Ranka said, while anticipating a good stomping as she watched Kuno fade out of existence and reappear in front of Ranma, hugging tightly onto her legs. Ranka paused for a second, wondering if it would be a good time to go and search for the yellow pages to look up a shrink, instead she decided to remedy the situation by cutting the piece of cake her mother had left for the boy, then gently setting it on the table.

"Here, mother saved you a piece of cake," she offered politely, hoping that that would get him off of her sister.

Kuno suddenly jumped up, freeing Ranma's legs before reappearing in front of Ranka, gently holding her hands between his, and starring passionately into her eyes. Ranka gulped, looking very surprised, nervously sweating, as she started to grow increasingly annoyed at the insane kendoist.

"Oh my love, to save me a piece of cake that you no doubt spent countless hours on, slaving over a hot stove, just to express your undying love to me," he started, feeling very touched.

"Uhm, I think you misunderstood," Ranka said nervously, desperately wanting to treat the guest like her mother wanted them to, but she was starting to get angry. He just wouldn't stop; He was like that damn annoying energizer bunny; He just wouldn't stop, no matter what she did.

"Fret not my love, for thou need'st not hide thy true feelings from I. The same shall hold true for thy heavenly twin. For I shall sacrifice myself and bare the responsibility on myself to bring happiness to each, never to neglect the other and," Kuno got started and would not have stopped either, if it had not been for one thing.

"Why don't you sacrifice this,"Ranma yelled, as she appeared beside him faster than lightning, before smacking his perceived filthy hands off her sister. She then placed herself in front of him, bravely blocking him off from Ranka, all the while glaring at him, warning him that if he moved any closer that he was going to get it.

Kuno was saddened. The thoughts of his pigtailed goddess being jealous of his affections to her sister was just too unbearable to bear. A single tear escaped his eye, as he felt guilty for neglecting his other love. Intent on rectifying the situation, he gathered up all his strength. He was going to reassure his second love that he loved her just as much as his third, or first for that matter.

"Oh my poor pigtail girl, I see now that I have unintentionally wounded thee. But, fear not for my love for thee burns as deep as my love for thy sister and my love for the fierce tigress Akane. Let us all join together with desire and passion and express our eternal love so that the gods themselves may smile upon us," he said, surrounded by an aura of lust.

Kuno then lunged himself at Ranma, ready to embrace his goddess. Ranma's eyebrow was twitching, as Ranka kept clenching and opening her fists. As Kuno got within reaching distance, Ranma grabbed the plate with the cake on it and smashed it on his face. She then twisting it a few times, smearing the cake on his face, before letting go and watching Kuno hit the floor with an air of satisfaction.

"Damn, stupid pervert stay away from my sister," she said, while forming a battle aura.

"Yeah," agreed Ranka, before both girls proceeded to stomp him vigorously, as the plate slid off his face, smearing cake on the side of his face and getting it in his hair. A fight cloud soon formed as both girls lost control.

Ranka rubbed at her wrist slightly as she grew nervous. She then gave her sister a distressed look.

"Ranma..." She expressed worriedly, causing Ranma to give her a different look, trying to reassure her.

"Oh come on Sis, we sorta did what mom asked for. I mean he did get his piece of cake. Right?" She asked smirking, causing Ranka to nod, unable to resist the temptation to laugh.

"Yeah, you sure made sure that he got his piece of cake, all right. I'm just glad that mom wasn't around to see how unladylike you were," she said, while giggling from how she imagined it would be like. Ranma smirked and laughed too, resisting the urge to giggle herself.

"Aw come on, it might of made her laugh too ya know. But, I probably would have got it afterwardseither way, for being unladylike. Which sucks, cause I ain't ah lady and don't wanna act like one either. I'm a guy damn it!" She yelled, which caused Ranka to giggle some more. Even though she could feel her sister's pain, there was just something funny about her passionately proclaiming that she was a guy while in her girl form.

"Ah what am I gonna do now? I can't just keep doing this," she said, upset. Ranma grabbed her head in frustration and unconsciously started ruffling her hair up, in despair. She started to imagine her mother putting her through training to insure that she would become a proper lady. In fact, she imagined that her mother wouldn't be satisfied until she would become the best lady that there ever was.

Ranka sighed at seeing Ranma in such a distressed state. She wasn't sure if anything she would say would help make her sister feel better. But, she had to try at least.

"Don't worry Ranma, one day things will turn out differently for you," she tried, which caused Ranma to take her hands off her head and look at her twin. She blinked. She really wanted to believe what Ranka had just said, but somehow it just sounded way too far fetched, considering how chaotic her life was. She didn't think that she would ever get rid of the chaos, that seemed to follow her.

"Yeah," was all she said, as she tried to sound happy and flopped down onto the couch, turning on the television, while leaning back and flipping between channels.

Ranka meanwhile tried not to laugh at the messed up state Ranma's hair was in from the ruffling of earlier. She tried to keep a straight face and focused in on the television, but her eyes kept shifting back to the hair. Ranma soon picked up on her sister's behavior and became agitated, wanting an answer since her sister kept chuckling under her breath.

"Hey! What's so funny? Huh? Ya better just spill it already," she asked impatiently, while tapping her foot in anticipation over the answer. Ranka just giggled and then pointed to Ranma's hair.

"Your hair's all messed up," she blurted out, before falling over in a fit of laughter.

Ranma grumbled and started trying to undo the bun her mother gave her, but wasn't too successful, knowing nothing about girl hairstyles. As Ranma grew more and more frustrated, Ranka smirked defiantly, sensing her sister's plight.

"So, you gonna admit that there is something that the great Ranma Saotome can't do and ask for help? Or, are you going to go through the rest of your days with that messy bun of yours?" She joked.

Ranma started to panic, imaging herself in her guy form being laughed at by Ryoga, Mousse, Genma, the old freak and everybody at school for having a girl's hairstyle. She then quirked her eyebrows at her sister, not liking how she was being treated at the moment. She gulped. swallowing her pride, wanting to get rid of that dreaded bun and spoke.

"Alright, fine then, I admit it. I need help. Happy now? So stop being such an ass about it already, and help me out," Ranma complained.

Ranka smirked and shook her head. She started to undo the bun gently, making sure not to pull or tangle her sister's hair. Then after Ranma's hair was loose, she fluffed it out, and smoothed it down as best as she could.

"Now we need a hairbrush, I'll go get one," She said, getting up from the couch and swiftly made her way upstairs, disappearing into the darkness of the hallway.

Ranma meanwhile wondered how her sister knew so much of that girly stuff, considering that she only had existed for a little while now. She figured that Satan must have fed in such things into her sister along with her own memories. Ranma just shrugged.

She then sank deep into her own thoughts, trying to make sense of things. She sat there there contemplating how well the Soul of Ice technique had worked on her mother. While it had temporarily saved the day, it wasn't a complete success. Her mother was still suspicion; She could sense it in her aura.

Her mother's suspicions weren't her only problems, she realized. She let out a breath of air, and thought about the current situation she had placed herself in. How was she going to get out of it? She had no idea on how she would explain things to the Tendo's or worst yet her father. What if she wouldn't be able to leave and would have to remain a girl for the sake of keeping her mother happy?

She frowned thinking about what Akane's reaction would be to all this. She just couldn't deal with that tomboy right now, so she decided she rather not think about it. There seemed no way out of this mess. She couldn't run away, since it would obviously break her mother heart. She knew she sure was in a pickle this time, and sighed thinking that maybe Ranka would have better luck thinking of a way out for her.

Still, she felt a happiness she had never felt before, from being able to spend more time with her mother, despite the fact that it would probably end up getting her killed. The rational part of her mind screamed that it was too danger. All it would take is one slip of the hand and one spilled cup and it would all be over. There would be no going back, honor dictating what to do next. She sighed once more, leaning back into the comfort of her cushion, looking up and studying the ceiling intently, as if the answers to all her problems was written there somewhere. She blinked, trying to clear her head, while at the same time trying to ignore the pounding of her heart.

Ranka came down the stairs, just as swiftly as she had gone up, armed with a brush and some detangler solution. She skipped into the room where Ranma was and showed off the supplies to her sister. She giggled.

"Just in case. So, are you ready, already?" She smiled softly, happy to be able to spend some time with Ranma, while getting to tease her at the same time. Ranma came out of her daze, and looked at her sister, snapping out of her thoughts. She frowned seeing the bottle, knowing that this wasn't going to be a good thing since it had girly moment written all over it.

"Yeah I guess so," she grumbled as she kicked the floor.

Ranka took a seat next to Ranma on the couch and started brushing out her hair gently. She then spritzed some of the detangler onto the hair and brushed the same spot out slowly.

"Hey stop struggling already and don't fuss about it. The detangler is real good for messy and unruly hair, such as your's. I guarantee that you'll like your hair better after I'm done with it. Okay?" Ranka said, trying to calm a nervous Ranma down. Ranma shrugged her shoulders and decided to trust her sister's guarantee.

"It ah better be or you'll owe me something," Ranma joked, "By the way Sis, I don't think I've ever seen you so happy before. It's kinda nice really. I think you should smile and giggle like that more often," she continued, before reaching out and poking her sister's nose with her finger.

Ranka blushed, as her eyes widen at Ranma's comment. She kept working on her sister's hair, trying to keep her focus despite feeling somewhat self-conscious now.

"Well I ..." she paused, knowing that she didn't smile a lot, because she knew that Satan would eventually make an appearance again, "I guess, I really should," she finished lamely but positive, making sure that Ranma didn't read anything into it.

Ranma felt satisfied with the answer, and wasn't going to probe any further into it for the moment. So, she gave a nod in reply. Ranka found herself smiling again as she finished untangling and brushing out Ranma's hair. She then ran her fingers down the now silky hair, filled with pride and satisfaction.

"There you go. All done."

Ranma couldn't help but run her fingers through her hair, out of curiosity. She blinked in surprise when she realized how silky and smooth it had become. It really paid off having a sister who knew about these sorta things, she figured. Ranma smiled, thinking about what a good job Ranka did.

"Wow, what do ya know, you were right. It is so much better than before. Heh and to think I would've never of known if you hadn't shown me. Hmm, wonder if my hair's smoother than Akane's now," She smirked, seeing an image of Ranma-chan proudly standing in front of Akane, with her chin up high and hair unbound, while her smooth silky strands gently blew in the wind. Her smirk grew wider with satisfaction, as her highly competitive ego found yet another way to one-up her fiancée, while at the same time not taking into account the feminine aspect of the whole thing.

'Just ya wait Akane,' Ranma chuckled to herself, as a blue aura began to surround her. Ranka was about to comment on her weird sister's behavior, when the front door slid open.

"... and then I showed that devil lady a thing or two," Nodoka said, recounting her fight with Alley.

"Oh dear, I hope you didn't sully your Kimono, demons can be so inconsiderate at times," replied Kalu, as the pair entered the house.

As Nodoka slid the door shut, the pitter-patter of rain started coming from outside. Nodoka, set her sights on her daughters, then looked around until she found Kuno laying unconsciously on the floor. He had a plate leaning on his face and cake smeared on across his cheek. Ranka blushed as Nodoka looked at the gnaw marks on Kuno's arm that Ranka left when she lost control earlier in that fight cloud. Nodoka gave both girl's a stern look. She could tell what happened by looking at the crime scene, and she disapproved of what she saw.

Kalu shook her head and went over to her nephew, and knelled down. She then positioned her head next to his ears, before bursting out into to her hysteric, satanic laughter. Kuno snapped back into consciousness almost instantaneouslyand jumped up into the air, fearing that his twisted sister was about to do something evil. Ignoring the slight cringes everyone else had from the laughter, he scowled at his aunt, for playing such a horrid prank on him.

"Must you do that? I thought I was toss into the bowels of hell, only to be tortured for an eternity by my wicket sister," he said, recalling one of his greatest reoccurring nightmares.

"Yes I must. Now come along Tatchi, we really should be leaving now. It is getting late, and we can always visit the Saotomes another day," She said, as she grabbed him by the ear and started dragging him off. Ranka frowned as she heard Kalu mention another visit involving Kuno, but gladly watched them say their goodbye's before reaching the door.

Nodoka felt that she was being a bad hostess. She knew it was raining outside, and she didn't want her guest to feel like they had to be put out into bad weather. No, it just was not proper, at all.

"Kalu, you don't have to leave so soon, you know. It is raining outside..." Nodoka said before being cutoff.

"Nonsense dear. It is just a little rain, Nodoka darling. We'll be just fine. A little rain rain never hurt anyone," she said, noting a slight wince from Ranma. Kalu appreciated her friends concern, but there was no way that she would impose.

Nodoka hung her head in shame, knowing that there wasn't much she could do for her friend. But, she would do what little she could. She grabbed one of her umbrellas from the holder, and offered it to Kalu.

"Please, at least take this. You can return it the next time you visit," she offered, causing Kalu to smile and take the umbrella gratefully.

"If you insist my dear friend, then I shall take it until I return," she bowed, as did her nephew.

Nodoka bid her guest's farewell, as she showed them out and slid the doors shut. She sighed happily. The dinner party had gone well enough, despite some disturbances. With that thought, she turned her attention to the twins, causing them both to gulp. There was much to discuss and now seemed to be the perfect time.

Her top priority was Ranko, since Ranka had already agreed to stay with her. Ranko on the other hand was staying with the Tendo's, which did not seem all that promising like it once did. For one thing, the way Genma was raising the girl caused her to be very unladylike. She had come to realize that Genma was a bad influence on her daughter from the stories that she had heard. She also didn't want to separate the twins. They seemed to get along too well.

Then there was also the fact that she wanted to get the girls away from the demonic influences in their lives. It was bad enough that their parents were demons, but she had on occasion seen Tendo-san use a demon head attack on poor Ranko. It was obvious, that the demon heritage ran deep within the Tendo bloodline, and she had to protect her girls from their influence. So, with a heavy heart she called them both over.

Ranma and Ranka both seated themselves next to Nodoka, after she called them over. Ranma looked nervous; she was sweating. She had a gut feeling that her mother was going to be focused in on her, rather than Ranka. To confirm her suspicion, Nodoka looked towards her and nodded her head slightly, letting her know it was her turn to be spoken to.

"Ranko, I know of your current living arrangements with your uncle Soun, and that my husband has been raised you. However, knowing what I now know, I can't in good faith allow you to continue living over there. Instead, I want you to move in with your sister and myself. It just isn't right for a young lady such as yourself to live like you've been living, young lady," Nodoka let her know, causing all hope to diminish in Ranma for an argument.

"Now, I understand that the Tendo girl's are over there and that Nabiki and Akane are like sisters to you. Kasumi is a good mother figure, I admit, but there are some unfavorable influences in that household over which she has no say over. Don't worry Ranko. You can still visit your uncle and the Tendos, anytime that you want. I just feel responsible for some of the bad habits you have picked off of my husband. I feel very strongly that it is my duty to undo what my Husband has done to you," she said, bowing her head in shame, hoping that Ranko would understand.

Ranma was in shock. Even thought she knew that it was coming, she still wasn't prepared to handle it. She wasn't as well versed in expressing herself as her mother was, and felt unable to make a convincing argument to change her mother's mind. It all was set in stone now. She wouldn't be allowed to go back and live at the Tendo's. She wouldn't be allowed to be Ranma, anymore. Instead, she had to be Ranko, a young lady in training, being trained by the grandmaster of ladies herself, Nodoka.

She felt ashamed, she would have to continue living her lie, and even worst become the lie itself. She knew better than to go against her mother given the current situation. All she could do was bow her head back and agree to what had been said, since Nodoka was the adult and she the child. She had obviously no say in the matter, especially since she respected her mother, unlike her father.

Nodoka's eyes teared up as she smiled and embraced her daughter tightly, glad that the girl understood that she only wanted what was best for her. What surprised her though, was that Ranko suddenly pulled away from her and out of the embrace. Ranma stood up and bowed back to her mother respectfully, before making her way out of the room.

"I'm sorry mother, but I think I'll be going to bed early, tonight," Ranma said, forgetting about her bad grammar, as she tried to find a way out, if only for a little while.

Nodoka got up and followed after Ranko, as did Ranka.

"Wait Ranko, I am sorry, but you and Ranka will have to be sharing a room. I hope that won't be a problem. It will give you two an opportunity for some girl talk," she said trying to encourage Ranma of the idea, while being embarrassed of the fact that her house did not have enough rooms for each to have their own room.

"Uhm err ... yeah. That'll be fine," Ranma said, hiding her face, not wanting to show them any sign of weakness. Nodoka clasped her hands together, thankful that the girl was being so understanding.

"Alright then, well I think you two should both go to bed now. Since, I have a full day planned for tomorrow," she informed them, before leading both girls upstairs and into their room.

Ranka you can handle the rest right? It's just I'm also feeling tired and i'm going to go lay down with a nice book before bed."

Ranka nodded her head understanding, that the conversation between her and Ranma had taken it's toll on her. "Sure leave it to me mother, you go and rest." She gently pushed Nodoka off in the direction of her own room, to make sure that she would go their first.

Then she went into their room, to the closet and slid open the door, pulling out the extra futon and the sheets and set it down onto the floor. She stretched out her arms towards the ceiling and yawned, before walking out of the room and off to the bathroom, leaving ranma alone for the moment.

Ranma let out an exhausted sigh and flopped down onto the futon face first, she was just glad to be alone for awhile. It was too much for her to be sharing a room with a girl, if it were a guy she wouldn't have to feel like she had pins and needles in her back all the time. It felt very uncomfortable to her, since she was really a he. 'Oh well atleast it's just my sister, and we both think alike so it shouldn't be so bad.' She fixed the futon up properly and then laid her head down on the pillow.

Ranka came back into the room humming, and just randomly undid the sash from the kimono, and slid the kimono down, letting it slide off her and then tossed it into the laundry basket for the time being. She stretched and walked over to the dresser and started looking through one of the drawers.

Meanwhile Ranma's face was bright red, and her mouth was wide open in shock at how her sister just stripped like that. Now she was really uncomfortable, seeing a half nude girl was getting to her.

Ranka had no idea that she was making Ranma uncomfortable with her body, finally finding a long t-shirt with a chibi lum on it, she pulled it on over her head and stretched the ends of the shirt so that it fell down past her butt covering some of her legs. Then she flopped down onto her futon and snuggled her face into the pillow. She stopped as she finally noticed how red Ranma's face was, and it worried her. She crawled over to her sisters futon and pressed her forehead up against Ranma's, kneeling down her boobs touching ranma's. "Do you have a fever Ranma? Your face is so red.."

Ranma felt herself getting hotter by the moment, feeling her sisters breasts pressing into hers and her face so close to her that she gulped. Right now she was actually glad that she was a girl, if she was a guy well it'd be very difficult and many problems would've arisen. She managed to squeak out an answer, hoping that her sister would move so that she wasn't pressing into her anymore. "No..I'm just uh.." She scratched her head nervously trying to figure out what to say.

Ranka tilted her head to one side and moved away from Ranma, going back over to her futon and flopping back down onto it realizing why ranma was so red in the face. "I'm sorry i shouldn't have just stripped like that, that's why your so red in the face.."

Ranma let out a sigh of relief and felt the heat from her face going away slowly,but right now she just needed some air and stood up stretching. "I'll be back.." She quickly exited the room and walked fast paced to the bathroom where she splashed her face with ice cold water over and over again till she felt better.

Ranka eventually dozed off waiting for Ranma to return, her body curled up and her arms hugging her pillow with her face buried into the fluffiness. While Ranma after having gotten ready for bed, had gone out onto the rooftop where she just gazed at the town and the sky. After awhile she came back inside, after closing the window and making her way back to her room where her sister was. She was hesitant though, not wanting Ranka to see how embarrassed she was about before, she flopped back down onto the futon and sprawled out before closing her eyes.

Ranka tossed and turned in her sleep, as she was dreaming of something that was troubling her. An image of a somewhat familiar face was distant and was calling out her name. '_Onna.._' She backed away frightened as the floating face came closer and closer to her and called out her name louder and louder. Then there was a bright flash of light and she stood in her school, and someone was running up to her and kept coming closer and calling her name. Her eyes widened as she slowly started to remember who it was, and she smiled and called out to the person. "_Ivory_!" Ivory smiled back at her but then screamed as a circle of fire entangled around her and blocked her from Onna and swallowed her whole. Tears streamed forth from Onna's eyes and wouldn't stop, she found herself jolted from her sleep suddenly and gasped looking around the room before wiping the tears out of her eyes. She calmed herself down and decided that she would try to go see Ivory tomorrow and apologize for not calling her, for now she concentrated on getting back to sleep, and closed her eyes slowly letting herself sink back into dream land.

Ranma on the other hand was having a different dream, it wasn't necessarily a good one though. She found herself at the Tendo's and her father was yelling at her about random things, and akane came out and started yelling at her and was crying, Soun came out as well and had a monster like head and was screaming at her. Ranma grabbed her head and fell down to the ground on her knee's. "_I'm sorry! I didn't mean it to end up like this!_" All the tendo's and her father encircled her and kept screaming at her, she held her head and tried to hold back the tears from coming. Suddenly her eyes shot open and she looked around the room, wiping some sweat off her forehead looking around relieved, that she had woken up from her nightmare. She starred out the window at the sun that was slowly rising and stretched, before getting up and quietly making her way towards the washroom. She was very sweaty and distressed, and needed to refresh herself with a nice relaxing bath.

A little later on into the morning Nodoka awoke and prepared herself for the day with a new kimono, and brushed out her hair before pinning it up in her usual style. Then she made her way downstairs into the kitchen and started looking through the ingredients and setting the items out onto the counter top, while she went to the sink and washed her hands before she tampering with the items. Then she started on the recipes steps, one by one and hummed a tune to herself while she worked.

Ranma laid in the bathtub with his head against the wall and his eyes were closed, as he was enjoying the warm water before he had to rinse off with the cold water and return to being Ranko. He kept starring at the door, just in case someone happened to open it he would have to run the cold water quickly.

Meanwhile Ranka finally woke up and yawned, as she looked around noticing that Ranma had woken up before her. She rubbed her eyes and starred up at the ceiling, as she remembered the dream that she had last night. It was about her friend Ivory Sanchez that she had met at Asadaiba High. What she realized was that she never had a chance to tell Ivory anything, and knew she should go and visit her today no matter what. She couldn't push back that nagging feeling that she sensed something horrible would happen if she didn't straighten things up with her one and only friend. She couldn't bear to lose her first friend over something so stupid. She pushed herself up out from the covers and stood up stretching, and walked over to the closet and looked through the assorted clothing till she pulled out a light yellow sundress with purple butterflies on it, she figured that dressing nicely would also show Ivory that she was sincere about apologizing. She grabbed her brush off the top of the dresser and started to get ready for the day ahead of her.

Back at Ucchans Restaurant, Ryouga had thought about things so much that he had fallen asleep and stayed at Ukyou's again for the night. He woke up suddenly from his dream that he had been having, to the smell of okonomiyaki and his stomach grumbling. He yawned and looked at the time and at where he was, not knowing that he had fallen a sleep after being lost in his thoughts for hours, and Ukyou had carried him upstairs last night. He had done it again..taking advantage of Ukyou and just free loading off of her, well he wouldn't do it again. He had to go and thank her for putting up with him and then leave quickly. Today he had to decide if he was going to talk to akane, or to talk to Onna, regardless he had alot more thinking to do. He pushed himself out from under the covers and stood up stretching, ready to make his way downstairs to Ukyou.

Ukyou was busy frying up some okonomiyaki, knowing that Ryouga would be hungry after he woke up, plus she just wanted to attract customers with the smell. She looked up after flipping the dough over, to see Ryouga standing there looking embarrassed. Instinctively she knew by how he was acting and that since she had known him, that he was abit shy. "Don't worry about last night, alright sugar, besides you helped me out alot yesterday. So as i see it, i owed you, so sit down and have some breakfast."

Ryouga smiled and nodded, not wanting to make Ukyou mad by saying no to her generosity. He waited patiently till Ukyou served him his okonomiyaki, then he devoured it in a matter of seconds. He was in a hurry, otherwise he would've eaten slower, plus he hadn't had any dinner last night so he was very hungry. He set his chopsticks down and got up off the stool, standing up and bowed his head. "Thank you for your hospitality Ukyou, but i have to be going now." He ran out of the restaurant through the back door, his face bright red as he headed off in a random direction.

Ukyou shrugged her shoulders at how impulsive Ryouga always was, when he wanted to leave. Plus it was nice having some company for awhile, she hoped that perhaps they could do that more often. She started cleaning up the spot where Ryouga had been eating, and went back to cooking on the grill with a smile on her face.

Meanwhile back at the Saotome's Ranka had finished getting ready and came down the stairs wearing her light yellow sundress and she wore her hair loose, she figured since it was the weekend and that the dinner party was over, that she could go back to wearing her casual clothes. She made her way towards the smell of her mom's morning cooking till she found herself in the kitchen and spotted her mother cooking random things.

Nodoka looked up as she heard someone approaching and smiled as she noticed that it was Ranka. She noticed that she was dressed casually and wondered what her daughter planned to do today. "Good morning Ranka dear, your up abit earlier then yesterday. May i ask what your plans for today are?"

Ranka looked at her outfit and then back at her mother. "Well i was hoping that i could go and visit one of my friends for a little while. If um that's ok with you?"

Nodoka noted how Ranka was shuffling her feet nervously, that her new daughter was abit hesitant to ask to do things. This worried her abit, but she could work on it later. "I don't see why not, but don't take all day Ranka. I have a full schedule planned for today."

Ranka smiled happily, at how well her mother had taken her request, and was too excited to mind her manners at the moment and took off out the front door after saying goodbye. "Thanks mom, I'll be back in awhile!"

Nodoka was quite miffed at how unmannered Ranka was and how fast she had taken off without waiting for her to finish or eating any breakfast. "Wait Ranka, don't you want someone to go with you..." She sighed as she knew her daughter was too far away to hear her anymore.

While some were happy, elsewhere a familiar acquaintance of Onna's wasn't so happy. Ivory stared blankly at the caller id on her phone, as she kept pushing the button to search through the calls. It had been awhile since she had heard from her new friend, and she was beginning to worry about her. After all the last time she saw her was when they had been separated at Furikan High School, and she thought that by now Onna would've called her and told her what was up. Another thing that was bothering her, was that she had to cover up for her friend and she had been punished by the teacher for lying. As she remembered she became angry, and clenched her tiny fist and slammed her hand down on her desk suddenly. It wouldn't be so bad if her so called friend called her and apologized for all the trouble that she had to go through for her. But no she couldn't even be bothered to do that! "What kind of friend does that ONNA!" She found herself suddenly blurting out the name in anger.

Meanwhile Satan watched thru his crystal ball, and pinpointed someone saying the name Onna and searched until the image of girl appeared to him. He smirked sinisterly as he remembered this particular girl, the one that Onna had been so close to. He thought to himself, what better way to get back at the girl for betraying him, then to use her only friend against her. He quickly set about to manipulating Ivory while she was full of hate and tempting her till she was in his hold, he then appeared before her in a ghostly image to further intrapt her mind.

"You see that girl never cared about you, she just used you. Now wouldn't you want to get back at her, for abandoning you like that?"

Ivory was full of anger and sadness and many other emotions that flowed through her mind at that moment. She knew that the ghostly image of the devil before her, was an evil being but she didn't seem to care. She'd do anything to get back at that girl she had called a friend, even if it were the devil himself that offered her that power.

"Yes I'll do anything, regardless of the consequences involved in dealing with a being like you."

Satan chuckled to himself, and pulled out the dark purple gem necklace the deep black aurora pouring out from it. It was much more powerful then Onna's red gem necklace, he had made it awhile ago hoping to use it on her. But this was even better, he would have complete control of someone very dear to her. He sent the dark purple gem necklace through the crystal ball to Ivorys location, and waited patiently.

Ivory picked up the dark purple gem necklace her eyes sparkled with greedy awe at how beautiful it was, as she pulled it on around her neck, feeling the darkness that engulfed her body everywhere, her eyes flashed bright red and she fell down to the floor screaming in agony as she began transforming body and mind. She thrashed around as her skin began to burn bright red, and ivory horns sprouted from her head on each side, ripping through her flesh as they formed, and the tail that ripped out from her back as it burned bright red and lashed about rapidly.

Satan appeared before the girl and watched in delight as her soul screamed in agnony as she fully transformed into a she devil servant. The whole Sanchez house was full of red light for a brief moment, but no one else was at home to see it and the morning sun shined so brightly that no one passing by would be able to see it as well.

As suddenly as the light had appeared, it disappeared just as quickly leaving the house full of darkness. The only light that shined in the house unvisable from the windows, was the eerie dark purple glow from the gem around Ivory's neck. Satan greeted his new servant as she slowly overcame the pain from the transformation.

"Well how do you feel my dear?" He smiled sinisterly and stroked his beard.

Ivory lifted up her head slightly and her eyes flashed bright purple for a moment till they returned to her normal color. She felt the new strength and powers that were now part of her, and smirked knowing that she had been granted her request. "I feel wonderful, I feel so strong and free!" She twirled around happily, not noticing how her looks had changed till she came across a mirror that was hanging on the wall. She stopped twirling and starred at the devil girl that starred back at her with a dazed expression on her face, and put her hand to her mouth in shock as she realized the consequence that she had received.

Satan noticed how she was acting and knew very well from his past experiences with other humans, how the girl was feeling and what she wanted to know. But lying to the girl and tainting her with more hatred would fit into his plan perfectly. He wasn't one to tell people the truth anyways, that wasn't his way.

"Ivory i know how your feeling, but you did say that you'd do anything regardless of the consequences..and well when you picked up that gem you took on Onna's burden."

Ivory had a blank expression on her face, not really understanding what he was saying. "What do you mean by her burden? What does me looking like this, have to do with her?" She starred back into the mirror at her red skin, and the horns protruding from her head.

Satan frowned, putting on a fake expression as he fibbed some more.

"Well she is my creation, so you see she's really a She Devil, and that is what you have become. Ivory you work for me now, in place of your so called friend Onna."

Ivory looked horrified as she heard what he said. "So because of her, I'm like this!" She fell to the floor and gritted her fangs together, it wasn't enough that she took the blame for her at school, but now she had to become a monster in place of her so called friend. "I'll get you for this Onna!"

Satan chuckled silently to himself, at how well his plan was going. He had corrupted the girl far quicker then he had planned for, but that was even better.

"Don't despair Ivory,with the new power that you have gained you can pay Onna back for what she has put you through. But you are now my servant, do not forget that. I feel so bad for you my dear, that i will let you appear like you were before while your taking out your revenge. He snapped his fingers and Ivory looked human once again.

Ivory starred into the mirror and smiled happy to see herself normal for the time being, and that she could still feel the new strength coursing through her body. She frowned slightly, knowing all too well that this wasn't going to be a permanent thing, that eventually she would look like a monster once again. She would enjoy her normal appearance for as long as she could, and embrace this new strength that she gained.

"I understand master..tell me what must be done.." She bowed her head obiently to demon before her.

Satan smiled at how obient his new servant was, plus the fact that she was quite attractive in both forms. If she performed her duties as well as she obeyed him, then he might have to make her his leading lady.

"Don't worry i will, but right now all i want you to focus on is your revenge against Onna. You'll have that chance very soon, since she's going to be around this area very soon."

Ivory clenched her fist together, knowing that her revenge would be fulfilled today. That she didn't have to wait very long, she would be able to show her friend how she felt. "I can't wait..."

I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any of it's characters, the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Viz Video, Shogukan and any others i forgot.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Say it isn't so

Meanwhile Ranma decided he had been in the tub long enough, he stood up and stepped out of the tub walking over to the shower area. He grimaced as he turned the cold water knob on and instantly felt the change occur. She sighed as she rinsed off and turned off the cold water knob, and grabbed the near by towel and started to dry herself off. Then she pulled on her undergarments grumbling and yanked on her sky blue chinese shirt, and pulled on her black chinese pants, before exiting the bathing area and walking off into the kitchen where her mom was. She looked around and at not seeing her sister present she wondered if her mom knew where she was. "Hey mom. Where's Ranka?"

Nodoka finished setting the table and all the food, and looked up at Ranko. "She went out for awhile.."

Ranma then noted how upset her mother looked, "And you just let her go all alone?" She looked at her mother and into her eyes, reading them knowing what she had to do. "I'll go follow her." She started to take off, but was held back by Nodoka."Please Ranko..bring her back safely.."

Ranma sighed and calmed down, till Nodoka let go of her arm and reassured her gently. "Don't worry i won't let anything happen to her mother.."

Nodoka smiled slightly. "Remember to come back soon, i have a full schedule planned today and i made breakfast..but I'll just wrap it up and save it for when you both come back."

Ranma smiled despite knowing how upset her mother was at the moment, and that she herself was just smiling to make her feel better. She was grateful to her mother for saving the food and not just eating it while she was gone, like her father had always done to her. "I'll be back soon with Ranka, don't worry ok." She hugged her mother quickly and dashed out of the house and down the street disappearing from Nodoka's view.

Ranka made her way down random streets, till she passed Asadaiba High and she stopped and took a moment to look at her school. '_Ivory.._' She frowned and looked down at the ground, the wind blowing slightly, moving her loose hair about. She felt really bad that she hadn't called her sooner, but with all the commotion that had been going on that wasn't really on her mind. Hopefully her friend would understand, but there was a chance that she would probably be mad at her and she couldn't really blame her. She sighed and started walking towards her destination once again.

She yawned as she walked down the long street, lost in her thoughts about her friend, till she bumped into someone. She snapped out of her daze and started to apologize to whoever she had bumped into, when she realized that it was Ivory and she was wearing a black tank top with the word EVIL written in red, and red leather pants, and white and black sneakers. "Ivory! I was just going to your house, oh I'm sorry i bumped into you, i wasn't paying attention for a moment there."

Ivory smiled at how well things had been going for her so far, how her master had told her where to go and to do things any way she'd like to as long as she got her revenge. "That's so like you Onna..you left me hanging you know.."

Ranka shuffled her black boots on the pavement, and her face flushed slightly. She was embarrassed that she had left Ivory hanging and that she just bumped into her like that. "I'm really sorry, but you know you didn't have to do that for me. You could've told the truth so that you wouldn't get in trouble."

"Well i guess I'm just stupid like that, always sticking up for people..but i really shouldn't have, since well your not really a person.." She glared at Onna intently.

Ranka looked at Ivory with a shocked expression. "What? Oh well I'm not Onna anymore, it's a long story but now I'm known as Ranka."

Ivory laughed at her and then glared at her once again. "Big deal..you changed your name, that still won't change what you are..a she devil.."

Ranka blinked at how odd Ivory was acting, she never acted this way, and what was all this talk about her being a she devil. "Ivory..I'm not a she devil, what makes you think that?"

Ivory began to get quite irritated by how ignorant Onna was being, and decided to take action. "Shut up! Because of you i had to become a monster!" Her dark purple gem glowed brightly, and her eyes flashed bright red.

Ranka gasped as her eyes fell upon the eerie looking gem that hung off of the necklace around Ivorys neck, and she closed her eyes tightly at seeing her friends eyes flash bright red. Now she knew why she was acting so weird, Satan must've done something horrible to her, she knew this instantly seeing the gem. Her own gem flashed bright red, as if to warn off the other one. She opened her eyes and knew there was no going back.

"Ivory..what has he done to you.."

Ivory snorted and crossed her arms. "You mean what have you done to me, it's your fault Onna..oh no i mean Ranka. You can change your name, and pretend your normal, but the truth is your not! Your nothing, and you'll always be nothing!" She slammed her fist into Ranka's gut, seeing that she distracted.

Ranka whinched and jumped away feeling hurt that her friend would attack her like that. The words that which she uttered, hurt her the most, but she had to try and remember that Satan had corrupted her and probably even more then that. That there was a good chance that the Ivory Sanchez she had known, was no more in a way. She lowered her head, and started to get into an attack stance.

Ivory smirked and flexed her shoulders. "Well i see your finally getting serious, that you know that i hate you..but before that he has something to say to you..Onna." Ivorys gem lit up brightly and a voice started to speak through it.

"You see Onna, this is what you get for defying your Master.. Now your friend has to pay for your defiance, that doesn't seem fair does it." The voice laughed and then disappeared. Ivory took the chance and charged into Ranka, slamming her fist into her stomach even harder then before, then she grabbed her by both sides of her stomach with both her hands and lifted her up into the air and started swinging her around faster and faster. "Behold my monstrously new strength!" She then let her go flying into the wall of Asadaiba High, slamming through into a good amount of walls.

Ranka gritted her teeth as she felt her back side make contact with the last wall, and she coughed up abit of blood from the impact. Her eyes were half closed, meaning she had taken quite a beating and the dust caused by the friction wasn't helping either. She lowered her head, and slowly found strength from her gem to lift one of her arms up to wipe the blood from her lips. For now she would have to go back to her old ways, but if she could avoid killing Ivory she would, but she wouldn't let herself be taken down so easily again. It was because she had been in shock and was too slow in acting before her opponent. She also had to win this battle no matter what, not for herself but for her new family that was waiting for her to return to them. She slowly pushed herself up somewhat, getting herself out of the debris pile, and kept working at it till she was standing up somewhat.

Ryouga in the meantime had found himself in some sort of building, that he had randomly walked inside of. He looked around at all the different directions to take, and finally picked one and started walking down that hallway till he hit a cloud of dust. He shrugged his shoulders and walked right through it, and kept walking till he spotted someone through the dust. 'What luck.' He thought to himself, that now he could ask this someone where he was.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me where i am?"

Ranka blinked and peered through the dust at the figure that was talking to her, slowly the form and shape became visible and she knew who it was. She had no time to for this, he was the last person she wanted to come across right now. But her being polite to a degree, decided she could atleast tell him where he was. "Your in Asadaiba High School, now if you don't mind i have to be going.." She started to walk off in the other direction, her mind focused on finishing the battle with her ex friend.

Ryouga's eyes became all big and teary, as he recognized the person's voice and he started to follow after the blurry figure trying to talk to her. "Your Onna aren't you! It must be my lucky day, i just suddenly found you like that."

Ranka crossed her arms, getting very annoyed by Ryouga's interruption. He was keeping her from her battle. "Right.. i'm busy right now ok."

She started to run off leaving ryouga in the dust and steadily gained more speed, till she spotted Ivory and charged at her at full speed. This time it was her that caught her opponent off guard, as she slammed her fist into Ivorys gut, and then before she could react, she slammed her knee into her gut as well, causing Ivory to stumble backwards. "Well now you know I'm serious.." She cracked her knuckles, as she waited for Ivory to regain her stance.

Ivory grabbed her stomach and glared at Ranka, she didn't think that she'd be so serious and so quickly. She thought that she'd be too upset and that victory would've gone to her. But now she could see the fire that was burning in Ranka's eyes, and she knew that she intended to hurt her. No this wasn't what she had planned on, and at the moment she had nothing to go by now. She would have to runaway and plot abit more before acting. Right now she needed something to distract Ranka with, so that she could make a break for it. She scanned the area till she spotted a boy with a yellow bandana around his head, he would do perfectly for now. She phased over to where he was, and grabbed him by both sides of his stomach, lifting him up into the air before launching him straight towards Ranka. She then dissipated into thin air while she had the chance.

Ryouga blinked as he flew through the air and knocked Ranka down onto the ground, as he lay ontop of her. Ranka grumbled and tried to shove him off her, she was in no mood for this. First he interrupted her, and now he had stopped her from finishing off Ivory. She sighed and put her hand to her face, although she didn't really want to fight with her, but in reality the sooner she stopped her the better. Then Ivory's true soul could be freed, and she could atleast find relief in the after life.

Ryouga shook his head about to stop everything from spinning around, and looked down at where he had landed. He blushed and jumped off from her chest and tried to help her up, but found she wasn't responding. So he thought that perhaps talking to her would help. "So who was that girl?"

Ranka pushed herself up off the ground and brushed herself off, and shook her head around to get the dust out of her hair. Then she looked down at her outfit and growled as she noticed some parts were torn up pretty badly, it really pissed her off since it was a fancy dress. She decided to try and be calm with Ryouga, perhaps she could get rid of him faster that way. "Well you know how you have your enemies, well she was my enemy." She pushed her hair out of her face, and started walking back towards the direction of Nodoka's house. "Now like i said..i have to be going."

Ryouga just followed in a daze, he was talking to her face to face. "Well um..I..you think i could follow you? I don't know how to get to the Tendou's.." He twiddled his fingers nervously, expecting her to laugh at him like Ranma usually did.

Ranka gave him a look, and shrugged her shoulders in defeat. He had a legitimate excuse so she'd let it go. "Yeah sure..why not." She kept walking at a steady pace, knowing that it'd be an interesting walk.

Nearby Ranma came across the remains of the one side of Asadaiba High school's wall, but what startled her was the shape of the imprint through the one wall. 'It was shaped like her sister!' and by the looks of things, it looked like she must've gotten into a fight with someone. She looked around her heart racing, hoping she was alright. She spotted footprints on the pavement, and came to the conclusion that her sister must've gotten dust or debris from the walls and was unknowingly making a path. So she followed after the footprint path steadily, till they seemed to disappear.

Ryouga stopped walking as he sensed someone was following them, he grabbed his umbrella from his back and thrust it out at their pursuer. "Show yourself!" He glared at the shadowy figure that came around the corner.

Ranma kicked the umbrella out from Ryouga's hand, and glared back at him. "Jeez Ryouga.. your so uptight.."

Ranka tensed up as she heard her sisters voice behind her, she didn't want her to see that she had been in a fight. But then she'd be alot more angry if she ran off, instead of fessing up to what had happened. Plus she was pretty happy to see him, she really needed her family right now. "You guys.." But right now she didn't want to deal with any more fighting.

Ranma stopped bickering with Ryouga long enough to notice her sister was there, and her clothes were torn up in various spots. "Ranka..jeez what happened to you, and where were you going? And what's with Ryouga tagging along huh?"

Ranka's expression on her face went to sullen one, talking about the recent event wasn't something she wanted to do. "Oh well i was visiting a friend, but we had a fight..and Ryouga happened to be in the area and he's going to the Tendou's so i thought I'd show him the way..."

Ranma gave Ryouga a look, before returning her attention to her sister and her expression on her face. She could tell that from seeing the disaster caused from the fighting, that it wasn't a normal fight between friends. She would talk about it with her later, but right now they had to get back to their mother. "Well as long as your alright Ranka, but I'd like to talk about this with you later on in more detail."

Ranka nodded her head in agreement, not necessarily happy that she would have to tell the truth about the incident. But right now she had to get around, letting her mother see her all roughed up. She wasn't a total mess, but messy enough that it would upset Nodoka greatly. "Yeah later.."

Ranma sighed and shook her head, she really didn't want to go to the Tendo's, especially after that nightmare she had. But Ranka was a mess, and going back to their mother with her in that shape was not an option. Atleast by going to the Tendo's she could clean up and borrow something from one of the Tendo sisters for the time being. "You should take a shower when we get there, I'm sure akane or kasumi will lend you an outfit for the time being..you can't go around like that.."

Ryouga couldn't help but let his eyes wander, after hearing what Ranma had to say. He eyes bulged as he caught sight of part of Ranka's boob through one of the holes in her dress, and he covered his eyes quickly. But it was too late, Ranma had noticed and started in on him. "Oh you like breasts huh..you can stare at mine all you want..but not at my sisters!" She whacked him on the head with her fist, giving him a warning that if he kept oggling her the next time would not be so pretty.

Ranka was so out of it that she wasn't paying attention to their sqwabbling or much else where she was going, as she bonked her head into a road sign. Ryouga noticed before Ranma and rushed over to aid her, but before he could say anything Ranma butted in and took over shoving him out of the way.

"Jeez Ranka are you feeling alright? You just walked right into a sign face first.."

Ranka looked up at Ranma with a bright red face, a combination from her being embarrassed and from the impact. "Um yeah i was just spacing." She pulled herself together and started walking again, paying more attention then she was before. Ryouga pulled his face up, out from the pavement wall that ranma had shoved him into and uprooted the sign from the ground, whacking Ranma over the head with it before chucking it away and running off to catch up with Ranka, leaving Ranma behind.

Meanwhile in the depths of hell's fiery caves inside Satan's castle, Ivory lay sprawled across the large bed in her new room. Satan sat on a chair that was next to the bed and stroked her hair gently, and talked to her soothingly. "Now now my dear, everyone runs away at one time or another. But there will be another chance for you." He smiled at her gently, and gazed into her eyes. Ivory gazed up at him and at how nice he was being to her about failing. She sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes and enjoyed the attention she was getting.

Alley on the other hand was not enjoying the site, from her hiding spot behind the door outside. She had been watching through the crack in the doorway and listening intently. '_How dare that little brat butt in on my territory! He loves me and only me wench!_' She dug her nails into the wood of the door as she watched satan comfort the girl. She stayed still as she knew that she had drawn too much attention to herself, and Satan was aware of the noise. She moved away from the door after he stopped looking around, and she walked off quietly down the hallway thinking to herself. '_There has to be some way for me to please him more then her.. I just have to think about how to plan this out._'

Meanwhile Ranma finally caught up to them and immediately paid Ryouga back for his sneak attack. Ranka snapped out of her trance like state of mind as she noticed the dust ball and the curse words coming from it and tried to stop it as it went tumbling by a person tossing some water out onto the street, but it was too late. Akane suddenly poked her head out from the doorway as she heard p-chan squealing violently. "P-chan!" She stormed over to the dust cloud and yanked Ranma and P-chan off each other and then whacked Ranma over the head with her mysterious mallet and held p-chan affectionately. "Ranma! What have i told you about picking on poor P-chan! You jerk!" She stamped her feet as she went back inside holding a struggling p-chan, slamming the door behind her.

Ranka relaxed herself after Akane was gone and went to her sisters side. "You alright Ranma?" Ranma had her face planted in the sidewalk and a bump on her head from the mallet attack. "More or less.." She grumbled in reply as she yanked her face off the pavement and pushed herself up off the ground looking annoyed.

Ranka's eyes went wide as she noticed they were at the Tendo's and all the memories of what she had done in the past couple of days rushed through her head, a strange feeling emerged from within and she started to act very weird and put her hand to her heart feeling it beating rapidly. She had to get away from this place before she had a mental breakdown within. She stumbled backwards but caught herself and tried to walk away, but Ranma had grabbed her hand after noticing her trying to get away.

"Come on it's this way Ranka." She dragged Ranka towards the front door impatiently.

Ranka yanked her hand away from Ranma suddenly, and her heart kept beating faster as they approached the front door. "I can't..I'll just go back the way i am, it won't be so bad."

Ranma looked at her funny and suddenly noticed how bewildered she looked. "i guarantee it'll be bad...your better off cleaning up here. Ranka what's the matter you look like you've seen a ghost.." She asked in a concerned tone.

Ranka grabbed her head and felt her heart pumping rapidly, as if it was going to burst if she didn't get away,and the memories just kept repeating themselves over and over in her mind. She did the only thing she could do to keep from going crazy she took off in the blink of an eye, without looking back. At the moment she really didn't care about other people's feelings and such, she just had to get away from that place. She ran by random places, not even taking notice of the names or where she was going as her heart kept beating faster and faster. She kept running till she reached the woods and then she collapsed onto the ground, her eyes started to tear up and she covered her face with her hands in shame at what she was thinking. Hoping that Ranma hadn't come after her, she didn't want to be found at the moment. She pulled herself up off the ground and leaned her back against a tree and closed her eyes as she tried to calm herself down by meditating.

Ranma swung down from the tree branch, hanging upside down near Ranka, looking quite irritated but more upset then anything. "That was real nice running off and leaving me in the dust.." She crossed her arms over her chest, showing that she was not happy.

Ranka snapped out of her short mediation, somewhat startled as she spotted Ranma hanging upside down from a tree branch near her. No matter where she ran off to Ranma would probably find her, so she decided she had no other choice but to share what was on her mind, since if she didn't her sibling wouldn't leave her alone. "I'm sorry i just had bad memories..from what i did when i was under his control..and my heart felt like it was going to explode if i didn't get away.." She quickly looked away from Ranma feeling ashamed.

Ranma uncrossed her arms and sort of laughed, then she rubbed at her head. "Well it's not like i really want to go back there either after the nightmare i had, and akane's nagging..etc etc. But as i recall you really didn't do anything that bad so don't let it get to you. Beating up dad was priceless he deserved it, and nabiki was bound to piss off happosai sooner or later."

Ranka hung her head in shame, she hadn't told Ranma about how she almost had beat up akane as well. "I was mean to akane.."

Ranma had to laugh again, and swung up onto another tree branch right side up and then jumped down to the ground. "Akane well sometimes i want to push her around as well, but i can't since I'll be going against the code..but you don't need to worry about that. Girls can beat the crap out of other girls without worrying about the code." She patted Ranka's shoulder showing off a big cheesy grin. "But seriously i know this isn't the only thing that was enough to make you breakdown Ranka.."

Ranka shifted her gaze to Ranma slightly showing how annoyed she was. "I hate how intent you are on bugging me.." She sighed and leaned her head all the way back against the tree and looked up towards the sky. "I guess seeing my friend from Asadaiba completely changed and willing to kill me, well i guess it was too much.. I thought that me and Ivory were best friends, and she was one of the first people to care about me..but now she hates me.. but that's because she's not the Ivory i knew and i know that, it just..it really hurts." She covered her face with her hands as she felt her eyes get watery.

Ranma rubbed Ranka's head with her hand gently, trying to comfort her as best she could. "Oh don't worry I'm sure there's a way to bring the old Ivory back."

Ranka shook her head, though she was grateful at how Ranma was trying to think positive she knew it just wasn't possible. "No..she gave away her soul Ranma..she gave her whole self away knowing that she would never be able to go back.. The only thing i can do to return her to how she was would be to kill her, so atleast her soul will be free.." She sighed and felt the trickle of tears fall down her cheeks, then she uncovered her face and wiped them away defiantly.

Ranma wasn't quite sure what to do now, trying to think positive didn't do any good since the situation couldn't be remedied in a good way. "Well um..i guess your right, but I'm sure you'll make new friends Ranka."

Ranka looked down at the ground. "No..he'll just corrupt them like he did Ivory.." She grumbled and whacked her head back against the tree roughly.

Ranma stopped her from whacking her head against the tree a second time, and looked her straight into the eyes sternly. "Whacking your head open against a tree won't help..so lets get back to the Tendo's, we'll explain what happened and you can apologize and start over ok. I'm sure kasumi or akane would gladly be friends with you so stop this bullcrap!" She hauled Ranka up off the ground by grabbing onto her arm and dragged her up into a standing positron, then tossed her over her shoulder and started walking off. Ranka was completely red in the face and in shock otherwise she would've objected.

Akane sat outside on the porch nuzzling P-chan, she was also worried since Ranma hadn't come inside after she had pummeled her. She had been so mad that she had forgotten how Ranma had left the other day and not come back for a whole day. Her eyes widened as she thought she heard Ranma's grumbling nearby, she stood up abruptly still holding P-chan and ran off to the front door before Kasumi. She slide the front door open and starred in awe at seeing Ranma standing there with his sister the Asadaiba girl named Onna slung over her shoulder and not looking to happy either.

Ranma noticed that Akane had calmed down, and ignored the fact that P-chan was sneering at her. "Sorry Akane..things have been hectic, I'll tell you about it all in a second."

Akane looked bewildered at how Ranma was acting, and she hadn't noticed till now that recently Ranma was in girl form more then usual. But right now what she wanted to know was why the other girl was slung over her shoulder. "Ranma i see you found your sister, but why are you treating her like a sack?"

Ranma rolled her eyes and started to get a little annoyed with Akane. "I already told ya I'd tell ya in a second, jeez your so stupid sometimes.." She trudged inside past Akane and straight into the dining room and took Ranka off her shoulder and laid her on the floor before sitting down at her usual spot at the table.

Kasumi poked her head in from kitchen, and her eyes widened as she saw two girl ranma's. Then she remembered what Akane had told her and she smiled at Ranma. "Welcome back Ranma, would you like some hot water? That must be your sister there next to you."

Ranma nodded and smiled somewhat at Kasumi. "I'd appreciate that Kasumi, and yes this is Ranka."

Kasumi put on a kettle of water on the stovetop, before continuing her conversation with Ranma. "I'll go tell father and Mr Saotome that your here." She walked off in the direction of the koi pond outside to tell the two fathers the news. While Kasumi was busy, Akane made her way into the dining room and sat down in her respectful spot, looking pissed at Ranma and clenching onto an equally pissed off P-chan. P-chan's eyes darted around till he saw Ranka laying on the floor looking upset and he burned with furry knowing that Ranma was probably the cause. He tried to squirm out of akane's arms but her death grip was too much for him and he had to stay put.

Ranka pushed herself up off the floor into a sitting position still looking quite urked and crossed her arms, while she looked around cautiously for either Nabiki or Happosai. She looked up nervously as Soun and Genma and Kasumi entered and sat down in their respectful places, while Kasumi went off to kitchen and took the kettle off the stovetop before it started whistling and turned off the stove top quickly. Then she came back in and poured some of the contents of the kettle ontop of Ranma's head, before going back into the kitchen with the kettle. Ranma smiled as she felt the change, it had been awhile since he had been a guy.

Akane was loosing her patience and was ready to slam her fist down, but before she could Genma was the one to do so. "What's the meaning of this boy!" He pointed his finger accusingly at Ranka.

Ranma smacked his finger and glared at him. "That's my sister Ranka, don't worry i didn't find a cure if that's what you were thinking old man.."

Genma rubbed his hand and was ready to retort back, but at hearing the words sister he became startled. "Sissster?" He managed to stutter out some words.

"A sister? Boy don't play games with me!"

Soun sipped his tea and nodded his head. "It's nice to meet you Ranka."

Ranka nodded and tried to ignore Genma's presence completely, but with her being so nervous she wasn't able to fully tune him out. Kasumi came back into the room with a bowl full of rice crackers, setting them down onto the table, before filling up everyone's cups that had already been set. Then she took her respectful seat near Akane and her father.

Ranma grumbled and rolled his eyes at his father. "She's actually a clone of me made by the devil, originally she was being controlled by him but she's free now, and since my DNA was used that makes her my sister. You got that old man!"

Genma glared at Ranma and then looked over at Ranka seeing a good opportunity since he sort of had a daughter now. Since she looked exactly like Ranma in girl form she was quite stunning in the beauty department and she would easily fetch alot of money if he married her off to some rich guy. He chuckled and rubbed his hands together, then he ran over to where she was and embraced her tightly. "Oh Ranka you make your father proud, such a fine young lady I've raised." Ranka gritted her teeth and buried her fist into Genma's face faster then lightning, making him loose his grip on her. "I am not your daughter..." She still had her fist clenched, and her hand was shaking from being so nervous.

Ranma got up and dragged Genma outside and tossed him into the koi pond, before going back to his seat at the table. Ranka shuddered and brushed her shoulders off, being disgusted that, that man had touched her. Kasumi shook her head back and forth at what had happened but more so about the condition of the outfit that Ranka was wearing. "Oh my oh my, Ranka you shouldn't wear such attire.."

Akane suddenly homed in on what Kasumi was so upset about and her face became red and she instantly blamed Ranma. "Ranma you pervert! How could you do that to your own sister!" She was ready to slam her mallet down ontop of Ranma when Ranka interrupted her abruptly.

"He didn't do anything to me Akane.. i got into a fight and it just so happened to tear in this spot.." She was really red in the face as she knew that they were all starring at it.

Kasumi couldn't take it any longer and grabbed Ranka, pulling her up out of her seat into a standing position and dragging her off towards the furo area. "Oh dear..oh my a young girl your age shouldn't be wearing that, now you come with me and we'll get you all cleaned up."

Ranka tried to protest but she was no match for Kasumi at the moment with her being so nervous, and so she had no choice again but to be dragged along.

Genma sat on the porch in panda form shaking off, and trudged into the house and ran up to where Ranma was and whacked him on the head with one of his wooden signs that appeared from nowhere. Ranma grumbled and rubbed his head looking annoyed. "What the hell did you do that for?"

Genma grumbled and held up another sign. 'That's for tossing me into the pond." Then he pulled out another one. 'Where'd Ranka go?'

Ranma sneered at him and grabbed the sign from him and whacked him on the head with it. "That's really none of your business old man, and by the way if you want to marry her off you'll have to take it up with mom."

Genma eyes bulged and he fwailed his arms around and made upset panda noises before taking out another sign. 'Nodoka has her?'

Ranma nodded and smirked at the panda. "That's right, she lives with mom. So you and mom should talk about any kind of marriage deals first, because I'm sure she has some guys already lined up for Ranka."

Akane got up and her battle aurora sizzled around her in flames at what she heard. She kicked both Ranma and Genma into the sky with one of her famous brute force punts without asking any question's or letting them explain themselves. "You jerks! How dare you treat her like a possession!" She huffed and went off to the furo to where Kasumi and Ranka were, still holding onto P-chan tightly.

Kasumi had Ranka rinse off the soap and shampoo, then ushered her to get into the tub where she relaxed as Kasumi scrubbed her back gently, and she slowly became less nervous. Akane entered and looked really pissed. Ranka shrinked back at seeing the sizzling fire like battle aurora all around Akane. "I'm sorry about before.."

Akane blinked and her battle aurora fizzled out. "About what? Oh that, well i was being annoying..i mean Mr. Saotome did deserve that beating. I was more upset because i thought it was Ranma being mean to me.."

Ranka shook her head slightly. "No Ranma won't be mean to you, if your not mean to him anyways.."

Akane was about to say something, but Kasumi started pushing her towards the door. "Now now Akane lets let her finish her bath in peace shall we. Ranka when your finished come up to Akane's room."

Akane nodded and waved at Ranka before being pushed out the door with Kasumi, she lost her hold on p-chan without realizing it.

P-chan shook his head feeling all out of sorts from being in Akane's death grip for so long, he stumbled around not paying attention to who was in the bathtub as he hopped up onto the tub and jumped into the water. Ranka had her head laid up against the wall and her eyes closed as she relaxed in the hot water of the furo, it felt very good on her aches and pains from her battle with Ivory. Ryouga surfaced and looked around through the steam and gulped as he slowly started to spot a curved body and heard a girls sigh. Ranka opened her eyes slowly as she thought she heard someone make a noise, she peered through the steam in the room and noticed that someone else was in the tub with her.

Ryouga started to panic thinking that it was Akane and she had seen him change, he fwailed his arms around nervously and didn't pay to attention to where they went till he felt something warm and squishy, also kind of round. Ranka's eyes went wide and her face bright red as she felt a man's hand on her chest, she instantly started to scream. Ryouga panicked again and slapped his other hand over the girls mouth, after removing his other hand from her chest. "I'm so sorry akane..you must hate me now.. I didn't mean to touch you there..i just got scared and wasn't paying attention.." His face went white as he saw who it was starring back at him with a pissed off expression on her face, and his nose started to bleed from the excitement, and he removed his hand from her mouth to cover his nose. "Ahahaha Ranka.."

Ranka growled and turned the water on to cold and sprayed Ryouga with the facquet, by sticking her hand into the water making it squirt all over the place. Then she turned off the water and unplugged the drain, and jumped out of the tub running out of the furo after grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself.

In the meantime Ranma snapped out of his unconscious state, and looked around and growled as he was now a she floating in the koi pond. 'Just great' she thought to herself, 'i finally get to be a man again and then akane undoes it in less then 2 minutes..' She pulled herself up out of the koi pond and shook off before heading off to the furo, stripping off her chinese shirt as she entered the bathing area, followed by everything else as she went over to the tub looking in it seeing that it wasn't filled. She turned on the warm water knob and plugged the drain, while she was waiting for the tub to fill up she went and showered off with some cool water. She stopped as she thought she heard some bweeting from the tub, and looked around through the steam till she bumped heads with Ryouga and fell over.

Ryouga panicked once again, as he saw who it was who had bumped heads with him. He guessed that Ranka had forgotten something and came back to fetch it, at the moment he had forgotten about Ranma's girl side since he was so absent minded at times. "Ah um..Ranka I'm sorry.."

Ranma-chan bounced right back up from the floor after hearing Ryouga, and glared him straight in the eyes. "And what does this have to do with Ranka hmm? What are you sorry about?"

Ryouga blinked in confusion, he stared at the redhead in front of him till he noticed her hair was tied back in a pigtail. "Ranma?" Then he clenched his fist tightly at remembering how Ranma had stopped him from talking with Ranka alone. "How dare you interrupt my only chance for love Saotome!"

Ranma-chan still had a fixed glare on Ryouga, and grabbed him by his neck. "Answer my question! What the hell did you do to my sister!" She shook him around violently.

Ryouga's nose started to bleed again at remembering what had just happened between him and Ranka a couple minutes ago, and he fell into a daydream like state where he admitted everything openly. "I touched her boob by accident.."

Ranma-chan growled and tightened her grip on him. "You fondled my sister! You were in the bath with my sister!" She gritted her teeth and let go of Ryouga's neck, then tightened her fist and planted it straight into his face full force, slamming him into the wall leaving an imprint. Then she yanked the shower head off it's holder and turned on the cold water knob and sprayed ryouga with it, before putting it back and turning off the water. She would've done worst to him but they were sort of friends, and the other thing was she had already caused damage to the Tendo's bathroom wall, and she had to get back to her mother's as soon as possible. But she wasn't just going to let this one slide, she'd have to beat the crap out of Ryouga at a later time, for now her fierce warning was enough. "Stay the hell away from my sister Ryouga..."

She grabbed p-chan and squeezed him tightly before opening the bathroom door and tossing him out harshly, then closing the door and getting into the furo.

Meanwhile up in akane's room, Ranka sat on the bed with a towel wrapped around herself as kasumi came into the room with a pile of clothes that she sat down on the bed. She picked up one of the outfits and held it up to Ranka. "What do you think of this one Akane?" Just then it hit kasumi as she remembered them doing the same thing to ranma when they met his girl side and couldn't help but smile at the memory. "Oh my i remember when we did this for Ranma, don't you remember that time Akane?"

Akane was busy looking through the pile of clothing as well, till after hearing Kasumi's comment she stopped as she found the i love china outfit. "Yes i remember, but Ranka isn't rude like Ranma..atleast i hope not.." She clenched her fist at remembering how ranma had insulted her figure, and she tossed the jumper outfit aside angerly. Ranka flinched as Akanae did so, and this caught akane's attention. "What? I'm not going to hit you.."

Ranka eyed her uncertain that the girl was telling the truth, because she had ranma's memories so she knew how suddenly she flew off the handle over little things. "Well I..um you can hit me if you want to..since i almost hit you before.." The guilt from when she had pretended to be Ranma was getting to her, especially since she was face to face with Akane she couldn't escape it.

Akane blinked and forgot her anger towards Ranma as she saw this timid girl in front of her, telling her to hit her.. "I'm not going to hit you..i told you i deserved it since i was butting in. But Ranka you've really changed since that time, your not all angry like you were."

Ranka tilted her head back and forth till she understood what akane was getting at. "Oh..well i was angry..ranma's dad he just brings out all my anger.."

Akane found one of nabiki's leather skirts and pulled it out from the pile of clothes and set it down next to Ranka. "Well he's your dad too though Ranka, now here try this on."

Ranka wrinkled up her nose at what Akane had said and ignored that comment altogether as she looked the leather skirt with a chain belt going around it. Then Kasumi pulled out a sky blue long sleeved shirt with a low neck line from the pile and set it down next to Ranka. "Oh it seems we've found an outfit for you Ranka, now don't worry about your dress i'll patch it up for you and wash it as best i can, but in the meantime you can borrow that outfit." Kasumi gathered up the pile of clothes and left the room humming a happy tune.

Akane started to unpack her school books from her bag,and setting them down onto her desk while Ranka was getting changed. Ranka finished pulling on the leather skirt, and her socks that she had on before, then she stood up and walked over to the dresser's mirror and checked herself out. Akane looked up from her homework to glance at Ranka in the outfit, and she smiled happy how Ranka hadn't insulted her figure like Ranma had, but then again the top was kasumi's and the skirt was Nabiki's. Kasumi poked her head in from the hallway catching sight of Ranka in the outfit and she clasped her hands together happily. "Oh my oh my that looks so stunning on you Ranka, now that your in better atire would you like some tea?" Ranka nodded and followed after Kasumi, leaving Akane alone with her homework.

Ranma was all sprawled out on the tatami mat floor, watching tv and munching on a rice cracker till he caught sight of Ranka walking by with Kasumi, and after seeing the outfit that she was wearing he spit it out and starting choking for awhile. Genma looked up from his game of shogi that he was playing with Soun, his eyes bugged out of his head as he looked her up and down and he plotted on how many men he could marry her off to, and started daydreaming of being rich and well fed. Ranka dissapeared into the kitchen with Kasumi for a moment before emerging carrying a tray of tea's and tea cakes, that she sat down onto the table and sat down near Ranma, eager to get going back to their mother as soon as possible, and faraway from Genma she blurted it out making it obvious that she wanted to leave. "Well i've got a temporary outfit, so we can go back to mom now."

Ranma rubbed at his head nervously and started out with a lame reply. "Well you can go on ahead if you want, i'll catch up later."

Ranka scowled at him, and flopped down onto the tatami mat down to his level and eyed him with a serious face. "I know your not going to stand her up, and that your not going to get away with carrying me here by force if you slip out of going back to her.." Her red gem flarred up bright red as it sensed how serious she was towards this person, the red light reflected from the gem to her eyes, making it look like she had a glint of red in her eyes.

Ranma gulped at how dead set serious Ranka was being at the moment, she was acting like she had been when they had first met and it was bothering him greatly. He had gotten use to her new attitude with her smiling more and joking around, not the old her and he knew that if he didn't go back now, that he would have to deal with that side of her. He sighed inwardly to himself, knowing that he'd have to go back to being a girl again, he had wanted to stay and just relax as himself for awhile longer but he knew that his mother was waiting for them to get back to her.

Soun interupted the siblings conversation abruptly, with the hopes of getting Ranma to stay and spend some time with Akane. "Now now, Kasumi has just made some tea and some snack's, you two could atleast stay for that can't you? And Son i'd like an explanation from you later on." With what he wanted to be said he went back to finishing the shogi game with genma, then he got up and went over to his usual spot at the table, and picked up his newspaper and started reading while he waited for the tea to cool down abit. Genma huffed at loosing the shogi game, but then rubbed his hands together as he spotted Ranka and scooted over to where Ranma and her were. He put on a happy face and had the words in his mind that he wanted to say to the girl, hoping that he could win her over with them.

"Ranka dear i'm so sorry about how i acted before, it's just that i was stating the obvious and that punch before it was magnificent, worthy of the name Saotome." He smiled with his sly grin that was creeping across his face.

Ranka immediately scooted away from Genma as she knew what he was up to, since she had scanned Ranma's memories and seen all the times he had tried to butter Ranma up and then tried to marry him off to random suitors. She rolled her eyes at the man's pathetic attempts to win her over, and then she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. "Please you don't think i'm that stupid do you..you can drop the act i know what your up to.." With that being said she stood up and went over to the table and sat down, and put her hands around the hot cup of tea, enjoying the warmth it was giving off.

Kasumi came back into the room and sat down next to Ranka, holding a comb and a bottle of hair detangler just in case, and set them down onto the floor. "Oh my Ranka you forgot to comb you hair out, if it's alright i could do it for you?" Ranka blinked and after hearing what Kasumi had said, she sweatdropped at forgetting to do her hair after taking a bath. "Um..yeah i'm sorry.."

Kasumi smiled and shook her head. "Don't be sorry i enjoy doing this sort of thing, and you have such nice hair Ranka." She started to smooth it out and picked up the comb and started from the bottom and up to top combing the silky tresses out.

Ranka was very content at the moment, it felt nice to have someone fuss over her and complement her kindly, instead of having orders thrown at her and having to do them or pay the price of free will. She picked up her cup of tea and sipped from it slowly.

Genma tried to make his move once again, but before he could Ranma tackled him and they both started wrestling around on the floor, both looking very serious. Ranma was particulary looking the most serious out of the two. "Jeez give it a rest, you heard her she's on to you so butt out old man.."

Genma fought back intensely, and looked around the room for some cold water so that he could go into panda form and use the cradle move on Ranma. "Would you rather it be you boy! What do you have to complain about, your off to hook with your girl side."

Ranma growled and pinned Genma down in place roughly. "What do you mean my girl side's off the hook? Your still going to try and marry me off to a bunch of girls though aren't you!"

Ranka ignored the noisy atmosphere as she was too content while being groomed and talking with Kasumi, she felt at ease when talking with her, her calm and soothing voice and her kind demenor were both the perfect medicine. Kasumi finished combing out Ranka's hair finally and set the comb down onto the floor and picked up her cup of tea and took a sip from it gracefully, before setting it back down. "So Aunt Nodoka is your mother now, is that right?"

Ranka nodded happily and took another sip of her tea, before setting it down. "Yes since you've obviously heard i was living with the devil, kind of hard to believe that isn't it. But now i'm living with her and it's very peaceful." She ignored the dust cloud that went tumbling by them and towards the porch.

Kasumi smiled sweetely and took a bite of her tea cake slowly, and wiped her mouth off with her napkin as she finished swallowing. "I'm so glad to here that Ranka, but what i'm most pleased to hear is that now Ranma has a sister. He's always needed someone to be there for him that could understand him more then anyone else, and lets be honest akane really doesn't understand him as well as you do."

Ranka found herself blushing somewhat at what Kasumi was saying, and she quickly retorted back nervously. "Well that's because i'm bascially him, so of course i know him better then she would..but i can't be there for him in a lover kind of way that'd be well it'd be weird and wrong.."

Kasumi nodded contently as she nibbled away at her tea cake and sipped at her tea, as she listened to Ranka going on about random things, then she asked a random question that was on her mind.

"Well what kind of boy's do you like then Ranka?" She smiled softly and waited for an answer.

Ranka's face turned bright red as the word 'boy' kept going around in her mind, then she remembered all the incidents with Ryouga, the one that got to her the most was the most recent bathroom incident and she found herself getting very mad. "Well i don't like Ryouga! Peepers and body fondlers aren't my type that's for sure.." She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest.

Kasumi put her hand to her mouth quickly and waved her other arm about trying to fan herself off. "oh dear oh dear..Ryouga was in the bathing area with you? And he touched you in an inapproriate manner!" She covered her mouth entirely when she realized how loudly they had both been talking.

Akane looked up from her textbook as she had heard kasumi talking so loudly, and blushed after hearing that Ryouga had peeped on Ranka and muttered to herself worriedidly. 'No ryouga wouldn't do that..would he?' Just then she heard muffled bweets outside her door and scratching on her door, and she jumped up out of her chair and ran to the door to let him in, welcoming him by taking him into her death grip hold once again and snuggled him. "Oh P-chan, where have you been, i've been so worried about you."

P-chan looked up at her and bweeted happily, and snuggled back into her bossom till an image of Ranka appeared briefly with her looking upset. He stopped snuggling suddenly stayed quiet. Of course Akane noticed that her beloved pet pig was acting strangely, and she started asking questions. She walked back over to her desk and sat back down into her seat still holding him. "What's wrong P-chan? Did you see Ryouga peeping on Ranka in the furo? I mean can you believe it? Ryouga peeping..i mean i never thought he'd do that sort of thing.."

After hearing what she had said P-chan tried to squirm out of her clutches to runaway somewhere faraway, but he was not match for Akane's brute strength in his current form. Akane wondered if ranma was in on it with Ryouga, or if he knew why Ryouga would so such a thing. She tossed her pencil aside and jumped up out of her chair, her mind made up as she trudged out of her room with p-chan and downstairs to find Ranma.

Ranma had stopped wrestling with his father after both of them smelled the tea cakes and promptly started eating instead of fighting. Kasumi was silent after her loud outburst and was tending to filling the empty tea cups back up, while Ranka munched on her tea cake and sipped her tea while ignoring genma till he tried to steal her tea cake from her,she immediately slapped his hand and glarred at him.

Genma rubbed at the smack mark on his hand and started to say something, but he was interupted by akane's loud footsteps that pounded the floor as she entered the room. Akane looked around till she found Ranma and then she started the way she usually did, all angry at him for nothing. "Ranma! How dare you make poor Ryouga into a pervert like you!"

Ranka and Ranma chocked at the words, and Ranma jumped up to defend himself from being wrongly accused. "I didn't do nothing you go that! He's the one that looked in on my sister not me!"

Ranka stuck up for her brother as well from the sidelines. "That's right, so you shouldn't be calling Ranma a pervert and wrongly accusing him before you know the facts Akane."

Akane glowered at the two siblings for the moment, before huffing and sitting down in her usual spot and grabbing a tea cake and devouring it, Kasumi tried to say something but then she stopped thinking it was better not to, since it could make things worse. P-chan kept trying to head his face by sticking it inbetween akane's boobs, so that he wasn't looking at Ranka or anyone else for that matter. Ranma immediately caught onto this and gave P-chan the coldest glare he could muster, then he downed his tea in one big gulp and stood up. "Well it's about time me and Ranka get going, thankyou for the tea and snacks Kasumi." Ranka noticed that Ranma was finally ready to go and she stood up as well, happy to be leaving. "Yes thankyou Kasumi, and it was nice to meet you all on a better scale, next time i'll vist longer but were on a schedule right now." Then she walked over to the door where Ranma was waiting and they both took their leave quickly, before Akane or Genma could say anything.

Akane looked hurt and surprised at the same time, that Ranma had left again and who knew when he would be back. It seemed that he was staying with his mother for his sisters sake, and this made her a little jealous as she thought about it. She reminded herself that she would have to check the situation out for herself,without letting Ranma know. P-chan meanwhile had managed to squirm about and kicked around so that he had slid downwards, and since Akane wasn't paying attention her grip had let up quite abit, so he made a run for it as he had fianlly gotten free. The first thing he had to do was find Ranka and apologize to her for what had happened, so he ran off to the Tendo's furo which he seemingly could always find and jumped in without looking to see if anyone was using it.

Nabiki who had just gotten home from one of her outings, had went off to the furo to take a relaxing soak and she spotted p-chan who dived into the water and Ryouga popped out from the water and walked out of the furo with a blank face on. Nabiki shrugged her shoulders and went back to her bath with a smug smile on her face, she already knew from hearing Ranma going on about Ryouga and Ukyou that P-chan was Ryouga, but she could use what she saw to blackmail him for some cash. Ryouga had his clothes back and he was wandering around the streets looking for Ranka, hoping that his lousy sense of direction would give him a break till he found her.

Ranma and Ranka walked down the streets side by side as they discussed the recent event that had transpired awhile ago, as they walked back towards the house. Ranma was still quite angry from seeing P-chan and how he had been acting, and also at Akane for jumping to conclusions. "I can't believe she thought i was in on it with him, jeez..she can't think things through before talking." Ranka nodded her head in agreement, she was still mad about Ryouga walking in on her in the bathing area but she was happy right now since they were away from Genma. "Yeah that's akane for you, she always seems to think that your the one who makes Ryouga do bad things." She smirked and playfully teased him. "Maybe your Ryouga's devil." She gave him a smug smirk and then stuck her tongue out at him.

Ranma wrinkled up his nose and gave her a look, that told her not to joke around about things like that. "I'm not..and you raz me again i'll grab your tongue you smart ass devling." He smirked and put his arms behind his back as they got closer to the house.

Ranka made a poutie face and then smacked him on the back of his head and ran off ahead of him,till she made it to the front door, she had a pissed off expression on her face and her arms were crossed. Ranma blinked and rubbed the back of his head as he neared the front door, forgetting that he was still a guy. "Jeez what was that for Ranka?" Ranka rolled her eyes and sighed. "Think about it you idiot..and also think about turning back into a girl, or do you want mom to see you as a boy."

Ranma frooze up like a stone statue after hearing that, he had forgotten that he had to play the role of Ranka when he went back to his mother, all kinds of images raced through his mind is his state of shock as the door started to slide open and he heard his mother's voice. "Ranka, Ranko is that you two?"

Ranka give a hmpf before grabbing the nearby water bucket and tossing the contents over his head, just as the sliding door was kept sliding open and the only thing Nodoka caught sight of was the bucket clattering down to the ground and seeing a wet Ranko and a pissed off looking Ranka.

From what she had seen, she had gathered that Ranka was mad at Ranko since she thought she had heard a male's voice outside the door for a short time, and perhaps the girls were fighting over this man and Ranka had tossed the contents from the fire bucket at Ranko. She was happy to see that the two girls had made it back to her at a reasonable time, but the thought that they were fighting and that Ranka who was usually so ladylike would do something like this to her sister. "Ranka! I'm very ashamed of your behavior young lady..you and your sister should not fight over such things." She looked over at Ranko worried since it wasn't a sunny day and the temperature wasn't too warm, and grabbed her by the arm and hauled her inside gently leading her off to the bathing area. "Now come along Ranko i don't want you to catch a cold from being all wet.."

Ranka huffed and still had her arms crossed, she closed the sliding doors shut before leaping up onto the stone wall, and with another sprint she made her way to to top of the roof where she sat herself down indian style, with a pissed off expression on her face as she fished her red gem necklace out from her shirt and stared up at the sky as she was thinking. She had just saved Ranma's ass, and now she was in trouble..she expected alot of apologizing from her sibling later on. For now she looked to her only companion that knew her for who she really was, and smiled gently at her red gem and started talking to it about what had happened to her. The gem was full of magic but it was also part of Ranka, you could say that it had a soul among other things. As it listened to it's master's woe's it lit up in response and glowed brightly to show that it was listening. Ranka closed her eyes with a small smile on her face as she felt the warmth coming off of the gem, and grabbed onto it. She sighed inwardly to herself as she thought about having to go back to school tomorrow, about how sad it would be without Ivory then she found herself cursing to herself as she started to nod off.

Ranma on the other hand was trying to talk Nodoka out of bathing with her, but her mother was very persistant on the matter for some reason. "I'm telling you i'm much more comfortable bathing alone mom.."

Nodoka who had started to catch onto the little things, tried to probe further but she could tell that she was getting on Ranko's last nerve, and besides she had the information that she had wanted. "Oh alright..well maybe some other time then dear." She then walked out of the furo area closing the door behind her, but now she would have to deal with Ranka. She shook her head thinking to herself about how her sweet little girls had suddenly become troublesome little girls in less then one day.

Ranma who had backed herself up against the wall, after Nodoka had stripped off her shirt during the small argument about bathing together, let out a loud sigh and slid down against the wall relieved that her mother had left her alone. She just stayed against the wall for awhile before stripping off the rest of her clothes and hopped into the shower.

Later on after changing into her usual attire Ranma came down the stairs and saw his mother with her head down on the kitchen table, she paused for a moment wondering if she had been crying over not being able to bathe with her. Nodoka lifted her head up after hearing Ranko come down the stairs, she wiped away her tears from her eyes and tried not to sound too upset. "Oh Ranko..i can't find Ranka anywhere, she must've runaway because i said i was ashamed of her.." She put her hankie back over her eyes as she felt the tears pouring out again, Ranka disappearing on her was the worse thing she could imagine since she knew the basic truth about her now, her greatest fear was that she would dissapear and now it seemed like it was happening.

Ranma rubbed at the back of her head feeling quite ashamed of herself as she recalled that it was her fault that Ranka had gotten so mad, and also she couldn't bear to see her mother cry she was used to seeing her cheerful. Of course the same thing was on her mind as well about her sister just disspearing, but she tried to think positive for both her and her mother. "Oh i doubt she she ranaway, she's probably just hiding somewhere. So cheer up i'll go look for her."

Nodoka took a moment to stop crying and dabbed up her eyes, before looking at Ranko. "But i've looked all over the house for her Ranko, and she's not here.."

Ranma continued to rub the back of her head as she tried to think rationally about this, she kept forgetting that Ranka was just like her and she would probably be hiding in the same spot that she would usually go to getaway from everything. She pounded her fist down onto her other hand, after she had figured this out. "Don't worry she's my sister i'll find her, since i know her the best." Then Ranma dashed off back upstairs to the room and opened up the window and poked her head outside looking around, till sure enough she spotted Ranka on the other side of the roof asleep,still sitting indian style. Ranma crawled through the window outside ontop of the roof, making her way towards Ranka, and when she got there she whacked her on the head with her fist fairly roughly. Ranka woke up suddenly after something hit her in the head, she looked around half awake and rubbing her head with a pissed off expression on her face as she homed in on Ranma standing in front of her. "What the hell do you want..?"

Ranma had a sullen expression on her face mixed with some anger as well, and had one of her hands balled up into a fist. "That's for upsetting mom, she thinks you've dissapeared, heck i thought you did for a moment..now go apologize to her.."

Ranka glared at Ranma as she stood up, and her red gem flarred up brightly as it sensed the turmoil going on. "Jeez i'm not allowed to get away from people, especially people who don't seem to understand why i'm mad! Hmm maybe because they said something and i had to save you ass! So yeah i want to be alone.." She started to turn around to walk the other way, but she lost her footing on the tiles and started to slip. Ranma lashed out and grabbed her by one of her arms before she fell off the roof, and pulled her forward so she fell flat on her butt.

"Not when you don't tell anyone..and i'm sorry you had to save my ass, and for whatever i said that made you mad..but you have realize that people care about you.. I almost thought you had been taken by Satan again, and that's what mom's thinking right now while she's crying her eyes out..."

Ranka had her head down after hearing how upset she had made everyone, because she had wanted to get way from them for awhile. Her red gem's brightness dimmed out suddenly, she pushed herself up off the roof tiles and jumped down off the roof landing onto the ground gracefully. Ranma sweatdropped and pointed to the open window on the other side of the rooftop, till she heard the sliding door below open and shut. "She used the door?" She pondered this as she crawled back inside through the window, and closed it behind her. Maybe Ranka wasn't exactally like her after all she thought to herself as she made her way back downstairs.

Nodoka was hugging Ranka tightly and lecturing her about running away and many other things, but she was smiling while she did so. Ranma smiled somewhat as she entered the room, being squeezed to death by her mother was punishment enough for Ranka. "See i told you i'd find her didn't I?"

Nodoka nodded and glomped onto Ranko fiercly as well. "Oh thankyou Ranko." Ranma managed to squeek out an answer. "Your welcome.."

Nodoka smiled cheerifully once more and let go of the two twins, and clasped her hands together. "Now i know we haven't had a good start today, but lets just forget about that shall we? Because i have some very good news to tell both of you."

Ranma scratched at her head wondering what her mother was up to this time, while Ranka just blinked having no idea what her mother was talking about. Nodoka noticed the blank looks on their faces and couldn't contain herself any longer. "Well it's not that much of a surprise to Ranka as it is for Ranko, but tomorrow you'll be going to Ranka's school! I even took the time to get you your new uniform Ranko, isn't it adorable!" She pulled the cloth that had been hiding the packaged uniform off from ontop of it.

Ranma meanwhile was in shock, as she stared at the adorable low cut skirt and the girly-ness of the uniform. That was it..now she would have to wear a girl's uniform, and she wouldn't be going to furikan anymore. Her mouth hung open and she just stared at the outfit.

Nodoka looked worried for a moment as she saw the shocked expression on Ranko's face. "Now i know your used to going to furikan dear, but Asadiaba is more convient to get to from here and besides you'll be with your sister. And i know you don't want to hear this, but this uniform is a good thing for you. You need to dress more like a girl anyways." She got up from her seat and patted Ranko on the head before leaving the room to let the two sister talk things out.

Ranma snapped out of her shock and fell to the ground onto her knee's, with a blank expression on her face. "A girls..uniform.." She found herself shaking somewhat as she said this.

Ranka was still mad at Ranma, but seeing how much it effected her twin made her anger melt away. Because everything Ranma was doing was for his mother's sake, that she wanted a man among man but now she was making him wear a girl's school uniform unknowingly. She also felt bad since Ranma had to give up his old life at Furikan and the Tendo's, because he was so deep in he couldn't get out now. She knew that eventually Ranma would also have to find out that Asadaiba was an all girls school, but she couldn't rub that into her siblings face at the moment. She also didn't know what she could do or say to Ranma to make her feel somewhat better about the whole ordeal, and before she could Ranma made her own move.

She pulled herself up off from the floor and staggered out of the kitchen, and before going upstairs she had passed by her mother clenching her teeth together into a smile. "I'm not feeling well so i'm going to bed early, goodnight.." Then she managed to make her way up the stairs and into the room where she landed down onto the ground like a rock onto the futon and went under the blankets to be alone in her miseary.

Ranma had slept the whole day and night away, and just started to wake up as the morning sunlight shined in through the window, since during the course of time she had been sleeping she had poked her head out from the covers at some point. Ranka on the other hand who had already been up and changed was fixing up her hair, and noticed that Ranma had woken up somewhat, but kept going about doing her own thing. Ranma rubbed at her eyes and yawned grogily, before setting her eyes on the Asadaibai uniform that was hanging up above the closet, making her more then wide awake. "Ugh.." She shuddered at the pleated short skirt, and sailor like collar that stared back at her mockingly.

Ranka looked down at Ranma, she wasn't smiling or frowing really she just had a blank looking expression on her face. "Well you can't wear a boy's uniform so your stuck with that, besides it's not wise to go up against your mother." Then she grabbed her backpack and left Ranma alone as she went downstairs to eat breakfast.

Ranma sighed and whacked herself on the head, and kept staring at the horrid uniform that she despised more then anything at this very moment. Then she smelled the aroma of her mother's cooking, and she knew she wouldn't be allowed to eat if she wasn't wearing that god awful uniform. So she pushed herself up out of the covers and stood up stretching, she would have to swallow all of her pride for this one. She took off her tanktop and boxers and started to change into new undergarments all the while making a fuss about it, then she grabbed the uniform off of it's hanger and closed her eyes and started to put it on much to her displeasure. She finished putting it on and opened her eyes without looking at it, or in a mirror for that matter and made her way downstairs towards the smell of her mother's home cooking that she yearned for.

Nodoka's eyes sparkled as she set her sights on Ranko who was wearing the cute little school uniform. "Oh Ranko you look beautiful, except for your hair it's a mess.." After saying that, Nodoka whiped out a comb from her pocket and started to comb out Ranko's hair while she was sitting down and making herself a plate. Ranka kept to herself and ate her breakfast at a steady pace, her mind was still caught on how different everything would be at her school, she herself was different, she wouldn't have her friend greeting her, and now Ranma would be going with her to school everyday.

Nodoka finished combing out Ranko's hair and tied in a ribbon to her ponytail to add to her cuteness. "Now i don't want you two fighting today, like you did yesterday alright?"

Ranka nodded and finished her breakfast, getting up from the table to wash her dish off. Ranma was still eating at a fast pace, too busy and too happy with the food to notice that she had a girly ribbon in her ponytail, that made her that much cuter in the uniform. Nodoka smiled warmly and handed each one of them their own bento box for lunch at school, and some money just in case they wanted more. Then she pointed to her watch to remind them that they didn't have much time left, and walked off to do her morning chores while she hummed a tune.

Ranma finally finished her second plate and patted her stomach quite satisfied, and for the time being she had forgotten about what she was so upset about. She got up from her seat and put her dish into the sink and started to make her way towards the door, when she sat down in the entrance way and put on her shoes, and grabbed her bag before going out the door. Ranka trailed behind Ranma as finished pulling on her usual boots and slung her bag over her shoulder as she caught up to Ranma as she noticed she was walking in the direction towards Furikan. "Um where are you going?"

Ranma rolled her eyes and stopped walking for a second. "Well duh i'm going to school, where are you going?"

Ranka gave Ranma a dull look. "To school..but your going the wrong way, Asadiaba is this way." She started walking off towards the direction the school with her head down. Ranma bite her lip as she made the mistake of looking down at her uniform and she started to panick. She had been trying to walk towards Furikan in a girls uniform, and she had forgotten that she had to go to Asadaiba with Ranka from now on. She grumbled and caught up to Ranka looking pissed off, and also looked around the area nervously.

Soon they stood in front of the school, and Ranma's mouth hung open as she saw nothing but girls hurrying into the building. "Ranka..what kind of school is this?"

Ranka looked up at Ranma who sounded very nervous. "Well don't you remember when my school visted yours, do you recall seeing any boys in our group? No..that's because Asadaiba is an all girls school."

Ranma frooze up and silently replied in shock. "An all girls school? I I I..I can't do this!"

Ranka had the same blank look on her face as she walked by her sibling. "Fine by me, then go back to Furikan." She dissapeared inside the building, the doors closing behind her as she trudged towards her classroom slowly.

Ranma just stood there like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment before becoming angry. "Hey! pft fine by me i didn't want to go inside anyways, i'll just go play hookey." She started to turn around to walk away from the school till a girl came up to her and smiled. Ranma looked around nervously and just stood still again.

The pink and blue long haired Asadaiba girl circled around Ranma, and kept on smiling till she held out her hand. "Hi new girl, you need some help?"

Ranma stared at the cute girl in front of her, she sort of reminded her of shampoo somewhat and the strange thing is since the girl was being so nice she wasn't so nervous anymore, and slowly extended her own hand. The other girl smiled mischievously and grabbed onto Ranma's hand and dashed off inside the building dragging Ranma along with her. She skidded to a stop in front of the principals office, and let go of Ranma's hand. "Here you go new girl, you just need to tell the principal your name and then she'll show you to your classroom."

Ranma's face was bright red and she gulped as the other girl let go of her hand.

"Um..err what's your name?" The girl smiled again and had her hands behind her back in a cute sort of way. "I'm Trishta Starling, and you?"

Ranma shook her head to stop daydreaming about the cute girl in front of her and started by saying the wrong thing. "I'm Ranma..Ranko Saotome." She laughed nervously at almost slipping up.

Trishta laughed as well and then giggled abit. "Ooh Saotome, that sounds like Satomi don't you think? Well maybe we'll be in the same classroom huh, see you later Ranko." She waved and skipped off down the hallway leaving Ranma alone.

Meanwhile in a different hallway on the opposite side of the school, Ranka walked into her classroom towards her desk, till she caught sight of who was sitting next to her desk with a smile on her face. Ranka frooze up and her heart started racing, and her eyes went wide in alarm, for a split second however she almost believed her friend was back to normal but she snapped herself out of that delusion and sat down in her seat cautiously. Ivory gave her a wicked smirk before she began toying with her feelings and breaking her apart piece by piece. "Ranka why didn't you call me? I was so worried about you.."

Ranka closed her eyes for a moment, she knew that the new Ivory was just putting on an act, one to toy with her further. Some of the other kids in the classroom knew that Ivory had made friends with Onna aka Ranka now, but she really didn't care about acting. "Yeah right..your just pretending.." She was wise enough to whisper this to her enemy.

Ivory put on the sweetest smile in return hoping that it would crush her opponent. "I can't wait for lunch time, me and you can talk alot more." Then she turned her back on Ranka.

Ranka looked so miserable at that moment, she knew from Ivory's sweetly tainted words that she and her would be fighting come lunch time. She sighed inwardily to herself as the teacher came into the room and class began.

Some time had passed between classes and now it was time for gym class, the last class before lunch. Ranka trudged into the lockeroom looking utterly depressed as she started to play with lock on her locker unware of another locker swinging open the door knocking into her, making her fall down onto the floor. Ivory had a smirk on her face as she closed the astray locker door, and innocently put her hand to her mouth pretending that it was an accident. "Ooh i'm so sorry Ranka i wasn't paying attention." Then after everyone else had left the scene she let out a short laugh before exiting the lockeroom as well.

Ranka had her hand to her nose, as she got up off the floor, then she glared at Ivory's locker and with all the force she could muster she slammed her fist against the door making a dent appear. Then she grabbed her backpack out from her still open locker and kicked the door shut, as she gritted her teeth together. She was different from how she used to be in someways yes, but with the current situation going on she wasn't about to go to gym class and fall into Ivory's traps. She knew her new mother would be dissapointed once she found out that she had skipped class but she had, had enough for now. She wiped away a tear that had appeared, then she pushed open the doors that lead from the lockerroom to the hallway and walked out and just kept walking down the hallways with her head down till she reached a door that lead outside near the front of the school on the sideview, she tossed her backpack down onto the ground before sitting down on one of the stoops of a staircase and putting her head down on her knee's, hugging them to her chest.

In the meantime Ryouga who had been wandering since yesterday, and after waking up from one of his random camp outs he resumed his wandering which had brought him to Asadaiba High coincidently. His eyes lit up as he spotted what looked like Ranka nearby with her head down, then he felt sad as he noticed that she was upset, but this was his chance to apologize for yesterday. He managed to clear his throat and stuttered out the words slowly. "Umm hi..Ranka, i'm ah..sorry about yesterday." His face was bright red and he felt like he was in anartica.

Ranka lifted her head and eyed him blanky, but she had heard what he had said and right now it meant alot to her that someone was there, but she was still in no mood for much of anything. "Well atleast you said sorry, but if it happens again i'll punch you so hard that you won't be able to walk straight for months..."

Ryouga's mouth hung open in shock, he was happy that she had accepted the apology but scared stiff at the other part since her voice had changed completely on the last part. He wondered if he could find out what was causing her to be like this. "Um..Ranka..you seem like your in ah bad mood or something."

Ranka turned her head to a different direction and just stared off into the distance. "Have you ever had a friend, and then suddenly they aren't your friend anymore.."

Ryouga scratched at his head and gave her statement some thought before he replied. "Well..Ranma and me are like that, hmm but then that Mousse is more like that.."

Ranka sighed and layed her head back against her knee's with her eyes half open, as they were still gazing off into the distance. "I guess thats somewhat true, but my situation is quite different..you remember when you stumbled into my fight with that other girl?"

Ryouga scratched at his head some more, and thought back to that event and nodded as he pictured it in his head. "Yeah she used me to get away from the fight."

Ranka nodded in reply as well. "Well she used to be my friend, but now she's not my friend at all..she's a demon, who's sole purpose is to tear me apart inside and out blaming me for what's happened to her.." She could feel the tears gathering up in her eyes, but she defiantly pushed them back. "I don't even know why i'm telling you this... i'm just an emotional basket case at the moment..."

Ryouga rubbed at the back of his nervously, he wasn't used to girls and their emotional break downs, and he really didn't know how to deal with it. So he just nodded to let her know that he understood, and wasn't quite sure what to say to make her feel better. He thought on it for awhile, and was about to say something when the bells for lunch break chimed. Ranka lifted her head suddenly and her eyes widen abit as the chimes echohed across the area erriely, and before she had a moment to prepare she felt a sharp pain dig as a large banister slammed into her body, and sent her sprawling across the pavent.

Ryouga looked alarmed for a moment at the sudden interuption, but that feeling suddenly turned into anger as he was able to dodge the attack, but he saw that the attack was meant for Ranka. He wanted to run over to her and see if she was alright but then he thought better of it, since she was similar to Ranma he knew that she would get mad if he did that.

Ivory set the large banister down as she still held onto it, she had ripped one of the large banisters from the cement staircase that was attached to the small porch like rooftop to use as her weapon. She smirked at seeing Ranka's body crumpled and laying flat on the asphalt and she threw back her head and laughed. "That's what you get for running away from me Ranka! I did keep my promise by the way, i waited till lunch time to beat the crap out of you!"

Ranka struggled with her body's pain as she pushed herself up from the ground, and coughed up some blood since the blow from such a large and heavy object had slamed into her backside, but it still managed to hurt some of her organs slightly. She staggered up into a standing positon, with her head still down but her red gem flarred up brightly. She managed to tighten one of hands into a fist, but her arm was shaking shightly as she was scared of what she had to do. She would have to rely on her gem and release her powers, which she didn't want to do if she could use martial arts but her body was in no shape to be used like a weapon and so she had to use it. She lifted her head and glared at Ivory, then she looked around the area to see if any bystanders were around before she clasped her hands together slowly and in her mind she chanted some words, and seperated her hands from one another and threw them apart. Just as she did so, a large red barrier appeared around the half of the school area that she was in. It was meant to shield the fighting area from regular people's eyes, so that no one would see her using magic or fighting, or be able to come into the fighting area. A shadowy figure that had been watching Ranka from the time she had come outside, went back inside silently.

Elsewhere on the other side of the school, Ranma was happily eating at the cafeteria, till she noticed that Ranka was nowhere to be seen. _Maybe she's eating lunch in her classroom, or somewhere else she was still in a bad mood from the other day_, ranma thought to herself and shrugged her shoulders and went back to eating. Ranma was too busy eating to notice that someone else had sitten down near her, till she heard a somewhat familar voice.

"Hiya Ranko was it?"

This made Ranma look over at who was sitting with her, and as she saw who it was her face blushed slightly at seeing the cute girl from before. "Um..yeah..trishta right?"

Thrista smiled and nodded her head. "Bingo! She giggled cutely, then she started to unpack her rather large bento box, which had a wide range of foods inside of it. She noticed that Ranko was drooling somewhat, and starring at the large assortment of foods. "Hey want to share? My mom always makes me way too much food, she kind of spoils me."

Ranma wiped the drool from her mouth and nodded. "I wouldn't mind sharing, um you can have some stuff from my bento too if you want.." Although there wasn't much left in the bento, and the cafeteria food well Ranma payed for it and was enoying it too much to share that. Thristha waved her hand about, turning down the offer nicely. "That's ok i'm not that hungry, so just help yourself." She started to nibble on some rice from one of the compartments, and decided to reveal things without letting Ranko know anything about her.

"So remember how i said Satome and Satomi sounded similar?"

Ranma nodded while her mouth was full of food, then she swallowed it and sipped some of her juice before replying. She had after all learned some manners from staying with her mom. "Um yeah..why?"

Thrishta finished eating and then started to reveal things to Ranko. "Well it's funny one of my friends told me that there's a girl who's name is Ranka and her name used to be Satomi but now it's Saotome, so you two related or something?"

Ranma blinked dumbfounded by how quick this girl had caught onto things, and it made her nervous that she might catch onto her secret as well. "Well um yeah she's my sister, they must've messed up on her last name before..so why are you asking?"

Thrishta played with some of her hair while she was sipping from the straw of her juicepack. "Well i was just curious that's all, and i thought i saw Ranka and some guy with a weird yellow banadana outside before i came to lunch that's all." She started to eat the first part of her bento, satsified at getting her attention.

Ranma twitched violently and dropped her chopsticks, as she heard that Ryouga was near Ranka again. She grabbed the rest of the breads and devoured them and drank the rest of her juice, before bidding Thrishta goodbye and leaving the cafeteria in a rush. Thrishta stopped waving as she watched Ranko dissapear from the cafeteria, she had done what she could for the time being.

Ranma skidded down the hallway in a furry filled state of mind and kicked open the first door that lead outside, looking around till she spotted Ryouga who looked dumbfounded. "RYOUGA! what the hell are you doing here!" She stalked over towards where ryouga was only to be thrown back by something that blocked her path. She growled and tried to walk in the same spot again, and the same thing happened. She grumbled and scratched her head wondering why she wasn't able to get over to where Ryouga was, then she saw Ranka and some other girl who was laughing at Ranka. Ranma was smart to realize that girl was fighting with Ranka and from the looks of Ranka's chi aurora her body had been damaged, also it wasn't hard to tell since the other girl was holding a huge banister. Ranma's eyes widened in fear quickly forgetting her anger as a horrible thought entered her mind, that other girl that was attacking Ranka, she must be one of Satana's servants.. and the reason she couldn't get near them was because their was some sort of magical barrier around the area that prevented others from entering. Ranma slammed her fists down onto the barrier, since she could see it by it's aurora.

"Ranka runaway!" Then Ranma realized that she had interupted Ranka's concentration and that had put her in danger, she cursed herself for being so stupid.

Ranka's eyes widen as she heard Ranma shouting at her from outside the barrier, at that moment Ivory took advantage of her opponent being distracted and swung the banister around like a baseball bat that was ready to strike the incoming ball and slammed it into Ranka making her go flying through a glass window and a couple of walls before slamming into one last wall. After Ranka went through the one glass window she was smart enough to throw up a defense barrier around herself as she was thrown through four different walls before smaking into a fifth one.

Ranma panicked after seeing her crash through the glass window, and ran back inside towards the window and gasped as she saw Ranka's imprint through one of the wall's, and she peered through the hole only to see some more. She ran around to the otherside of the hall and skidded into the fifth room where Ranka was laying on the floor. "Ranka! Ranka are you alright? Speak to me!"

Ranka was still in a good amount of pain from the crashing through the window, but most of it was from the first impact. She noticed that some shards from the broken window glass had dug into her skin embedding themselves, which didn't help the amount of pain she was feeling. Her vison was somewhat blurry as she was bleeding in some places, and going through glass at such a speed and so fast put her body into shock, but she could still talk. She eyed the blurry figure standing near her and shouting her name, she knew it was Ranma and that she was worried. "I'm alive aren't I.."

Ranma looked angry for a moment, at how she had replied with such a lie. Anyone could see that she was in bad shape, and yet she tried to lie through her teeth about it. "No your not damn it! Let's get you to a hospital before you die!"

Ranka smiled slightly, then her expression turned blank. "Leave..i'll be alright, but you won't if you butt into this fight.."

Ranma growled and tighten her fists at how stubborn she was being. "Like hell you will! Your bleeding, don't you see that small puddle of blood you idiot! I'm not leaving! Were going to the hospital right now!" She started to grab for one of the Ranka's arms, so that she could haul her up off the floor and toss her over her shoulder.

Ranka looked upset, knowing that she would have to use magic in front of Ranma and against her as well. But she couldn't have Ranma getting involved in this fight, it was hers for one thing, and for another even ranma's martial art's skills wouldn't be enough to defeat Ivory the way she was now. She closed her eyes and chanted in her mind, a magic teleport symbol appearing underneath Ranma unknowingly, her gem glowed brightly as it completed the spell making Ranma dissapear ontop of the schools rooftop.

Ranka slowly pulled herself up into a sitting positon up against the wall, and coughed up a small amount of blood again. She closed her eyes and put her hands around her gem communicating with it, the gem responded to it's masters order and lit up brightly the light enveloped Ranka inside of it and started healing her. Just then the door slammed open with a thud as it broke right off it hinges, and Ivory came walking into the room with a sneer on her face. "Well look at what i found, it really wasn't that hard to find you either since your helpless." She knelt down near Ranka, and dipped the tip of one of her fingers into the small pool of blood and licked it off of her finger with her tongue. "It'd be so easy to kill you right now, but that's not what i want oh no i want to torture you much more then what i've done. So i'll be seeing you tomorrow." She got up from the floor and snapped her fingers making all the damages done to the room and walls, and window and everything else go back to normal, since her fun would be ruined if the school were to find out about the damages, then she walked out of the classroom and closed the fixed door behind her.

Ranka laid her head back against the wall, starring up at the ceiling blankly. Everyday would be a living hell for her at school thanks to Ivory's painful games, and what was worse is that they were working, she could feel herself falling apart emotionaly as her mind sunk deeper into despair.

Up ontop of the rooftop Ranma looked around confused as hell, since just a moment ago she was down on the first floor with Ranka and then she was up here. Ranma cursed and flung the door open and ran down the stairs that lead back into the school, it had dawned on her what had happened. Ranka had used magic! There was no other explanation since she had seemed to be concentrating and that symbol that had lit up on the floor underneath her, which had become brighter the same time the gem had and that was when she dissapeared. Right now the most important thing was to get back to her sister and get her to the nurse's office, since going to a hospital without the nurse's help was just plain stupid, but afterwards she would intergate Ranka about the magic. Ranma sped down the hallways as fast as she could, not paying attention to who was there as she smacked head first into someone who was going equally as fast as she was. The impact from the speeds sent both of them sprawling across the hallway a good ways, Ranma grumbled and shook her head before getting back up and stomping over to the other person. "What the hell! Can't you see that i'm in a hurry!"

Ryouga grumbled and rubbed at his head, and looked up at the angry redhead, and seeing that she was wearing the Asadaiba uniform he didn't take into account that it was Ranma, and thought that she was Ranka. "I'm sorry..but i'm glad to see that your not too beat up?" He found himself blushing again.

Ranma did a double take as she noticed it was Ryouga who had smacked into her, and apparently he thought that she was Ranka. Urghh..that stupid pigheaded..' She stopped herself short, as her face flushed bright red as she remembered the predictament that she was in. If she said that she was Ranma, well Ryouga would laugh at her for wearing such a girly outfit and he'd never shut up about it. If she told him that she was Ranko, Ranka's sister that would lead Ryouga on thinking that he could have a chance with her as well, so the logical thing to do was to act like she was Ranka. After she came up with the conclusion she smirked to herself, since she could tell him off and he would think that it was Ranka, oh yes she was going to enjoy this and make it as fast as possible since she had to get to Ranka. "Uhuh..now buzz off pigboy.."

Ryouga gasped and felt himself freaking out emotionally, but then he calmed himself down telling himself that she was just angry from fighting. He would let her be till she cooled down, then maybe he would try to talk to her about what happened. "Alright i understand." Then he walked off in a random direction, dissapearing down another hallway.

Ranma quirked her eyebrow at how Ryouga had just taken the insult and left like that, but now wasn't the time to dwell on his odd behavior. She ran off down the hallway again, and haulted to a stop at the door throwing it open panting from running so fast. Her eyes darted back and forth as she looked around the room till she found Ranka just starring up at the ceiling blankly, and oddly enough the room wasn't all messed up like it had been. Magic must've been what had cleaned up the damage that was done to the room and so on, but at the moment just by looking at her sister she could see her aurora wasn't it's normal color. "Ranka!" She said it in a stern an angry tone, hoping that it would reach her, but she didn't budge. She tried a couple more times in different tones soft and loud but still no reaction. Ranma thought for a moment, and then an idea came to her she had almost forgotten that she had another name and perhaps saying it would shake her awake. She tightened her fists and yelled it pretty loud. "ONNA!"

Ranka snapped out of mindless state at hearing her old name being called, and automatically thought that it was one of her enemies till she saw who was yelling it. She felt ashamed to look at Ranma after she had used magic on her, but she knew if she didn't respond it'd just make her more angry. "you've got my attention you can stop now.." She put her head down on her knee's, looking down at the floor.

Ranma still looked irritated since she could tell that Ranka was starting that emotionaless state from before. She was determined to break her out of it. "Well i'm not going to stop dumbass, now lets go see the nurse or someone who's a doctor.."

Ranka eyed Ranma for a moment before looking back down at the floor. "I don't need to..and you really shouldn't care about me, originally i tried to kill you among other things.."

Before she could say anything more, Ranma made sure she couldn't since she knew what she was going to say next. "Don't you dare say such things! I won't listen to your nonsense, you were controled before that's the only reason why you wanted to kill me, you know you had no intention of doing anything to me..now get up and lets go to the nurse!" She tightened her fist at how stubborn and idotic Ranka was being.

Ranka found herself getting angry, since of course she was still angry about before, and now Ranma yelling at her that didn't help. "Shutup! I told you i don't need to see any doctors or nurse because i'm healing myself!" She huffed and crossed her arms defiantly.

Ranma growled and tried to grab her only to be repelled by the defense barrier that was around her. "God damnit turn that thing off! I know you use magic now!"

Ranka smirked tauntily at Ranma. "Yeah and you can't make me go to the nurse so there." She stuck her tongue out at Ranma mockingly, since she knew she couldn't break throught the barrier.

Ranma cracked her knuckles a couple of times and had her teeth gritted. She wasn't about to give up, even though Ranka was being a royal pain in the ass at the moment. She knew that people couldn't touch the barrier, but what about objects! She smirked to herself and looked around the room and grabbed one of the desks, and pushed it under Ranka so that she was ontop of it. "Hah! Your going to the nurse!"

Ranka shook her head. "Maybe but she can't touch me either."

Ranma glarred at her and swung the desk out from under her, letting her fall back onto the floor. "Alright fine..i'll just go get mom!"

Ranka gasped knowing that if her mom knew she had gotten hurt, and that she was using magic she'd really be in trouble, she also knew that Ranma was dead serious about telling her. So she lowered her head in defeat and released the defense barrier grumbling to herself. Ranma smirked and scooped her up off the floor holding her in both of her arms. "Heh heh i win." She was irritated as hell with her sister, but she was quite happy that she was fighting back it showed that she had gotten her normal spunk back somewhat. She waited till someone came out from the nurses office and then made her way into the room while the door was open, and laid Ranka down onto one of the beds. "Hey nurse you have a patient."

Later after the nurse had examined Ranka, and removed the shards of glass from her body, and cleaned and disinfected her wounds Ranma had carried her on her back and left school early to go home for the day. Ranka rested her head on Ranma's shoulder slightly since she was pretty worn out, and found herself nodding off, and eventually she fell asleep.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters, the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Shogukan, and Viz video and anyone else I forgot.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: I can't take it

The sunlight shined in through the window and into the room where Ranka was sleeping, the brightness made her slowly open her eyes. Then as suddenly as the sunlight had appeared it disappeared resuming the gloomy grey sky, Ranka looked over at the time on the alarm clock and held her hand to her head, she had fallen asleep on Ranma's back and hadn't woken up till the next morning. Even now she felt like going back to sleep and not waking up, but she knew that her mother was worried sick and ranma as well. She sighed and pushed the blankets off of herself and pushed herself up off the ground, stretching her arms while she yawned. She started to undress and change into her school uniform, she stared at the light night gown that was now on the floor, figuring that her mother had taken off her other clothes and dressed her for bed last night. She walked over the dresser and picked up her brush and started brushing out her hair while she looked into the mirror at herself. She didn't want to go back to school after what had happened yesterday, since she knew Ivory would have an abundant set of traps ready for her today as well.

She finished her hair and set the brush back down on the dresser, and left the room, heading down the stairs to thank Ranma and her mother for whatever they had done for her yesterday while she had been sleeping.

Nodoka looked up catching sight of Ranka, jumping up from her seat suddenly and running over and hugging her tightly. "Oh Ranka we were so worried about you last night? You still look out of it dear, maybe you shouldn't go to school today.." Ranka looked away for a second, as she processed what her mom had just said and she was all for it, but she would be endangering her mother if she did that. The best thing to do which she didn't want to, was to go to school and confront Ivory. "Thanks mom..but I'm ok, going to school is an important thing." She looked around the kitchen seeing no signs of Ranma, and wondered where she had gone off to. "Where's Ranko?"

Nodoka was busy packing a paperbag with breakfast snacks, and handed it to Ranka. "She's outside waiting for you dear, you've overslept. Are you sure you don't want to stay home today?" Ranka shook her head and pulled on her backpack and shoes at the doorway. "I'll be alright mom, thanks for the breakfast." She opened the sliding door and made her way outside, sliding the door shut behind her.

Ranma jumped down from the roof, landing onto the ground right infront of Ranka making her jump. "About time sleeping beauty woke up."

Ranka shook her head about to put herself back into a good state of mind.

"You startled me..and thanks for what you did yesterday.." She found herself getting red in the face feeling embarrassed.

Ranma smiled at her somewhat, and started walking out of the yard towards the street. "You would've done the same for me, besides after what happened yesterday I'm surprised you lasted that long. Don't do anything like that again.." Her expression on her faced suddenly became serious.

Ranka nodded understanding, but if she had to go all out she would. She started munching on the contents of the paper bag and walked towards school, lagging a ways behind her sister.

Meanwhile at the school gates Ivory waited to greet Ranka, she had so much planned for her today. On the other side of the gates Thrishta watched Ivory from afar,waiting for her to make her move. Ranma and Ranka arrived at the gates, when Ivory tried to say hello to Ranka, Ranma pushed Ranka past her and into the school. Ranka was thankful but also abit urked since this wasn't going to help any. "Why did you do that? It's not going to solve anything by running away.." Ranma was busy scratching her head, and acting like she hadn't heard her. "Hmm? Oh..well, you should get to class." Ranka had a pissed off expression on her face. "Were you even listening to me?" Ranma scratched at the back of her neck like she wasn't paying attention to her, then while she was yammering on she shoved her into her classroom and closed the door behind her with a smirk on her face as she walked off to her own class.

Thrista was standing outside the classroom and smiled as Ranko walked up, and glomped onto her without thinking. "Good morning friend."

Ranma's face was bright red, and she just stood there frozen for a moment till she snapped herself out of it and unhooked her arms and hands from herself, and pushed them back gently. "Don't do that.."

Thrishta blinked and rubbed at her chin thoughtfully. "What's wrong giving my new friend a good morning hug huh?"

Ranma's face was still red and she looked really embarrassed. "I don't um..like to be touched..we just met each other yesterday.."

Thrista nodded in agreement and bowed her head down as far as she could so respect to Ranko. "I'm sorry, i won't do it again unless you want me to." Then she lifted her head up and had a smile on her face again, as she backed into the classroom and skipped off to her desk leaving Ranma out in the hallway.

Back in Ranka's classroom, after having a good amount of her classmates laughed at her sudden entrance she had when she went to sit down at her seat, which unknown to her Ivory had booby trapped already. As she sat down into her seat she felt something sticky, and saw Ivory with a large grin on her face. She then knew what had happened and her face became flushed as she yanked herself off of her chair, and ran off to the bathroom to try to get the gum off of the bottom of her skirt. Then when she went to open the bathroom door a bucket of red liquid came crashing down ontop of her, staining her uniform in some spots. She tossed the bucket off of her head, and continued making her way towards the sinks where she started to run the facquet and dabbed some cold water onto where the red stains were. She looked around after she thought that she had heard a noise, then she happened to look up at the ceiling and covered her mouth before she screamed. The ceiling was covered with vampire bats and they were all starring at her, they started to fly around swarming around her. She quickly turned off the facquet, hoping that since the noise was gone that they'd settle down, but they didn't they kept swarming her till she backed into the door which swung open and she couldn't move around too well since they were attacking her. Ivory stepped out from the shadows and shoved her down the nearby stairs, and snapped her fingers making the bats disappear. Ranka hit the last step with a thud, as she landed onto something soft. She whinched as she felt the sudden pain that shot up one of her legs, she slowly lifted her head and her eyes went wide as she looked into the dead's open eyes that starred back at her.

Ivory descended down the staircase and looked down at Ranka mockingly. "Were you surprised? I was up all night planning it out perfectly, how i timed you going to the bathroom to get the gum off, then i just waited and gave you a little a push. You know he might forgive you if you go back to him, or i can continue?" Ranka glared at her defiantly. "Never.." Ivory smirked and laughed a little. "Good it wouldn't be fun for me if you gave in that easily, so prepare yourself." She smiled at her one last time before screaming as loudly as she could, then she bent down and grabbed the dead girls hand and pulled down on the fire alarm switch with it, leaving a bloody trail. Before she left the scene she put the bloody knife into Ranka's hand, then she disappeared laughing as all the students came out of their classrooms into the hallway.

Ranka tried to fight off loosing consciousness but she lost as she felt herself drift off, the last thing she heard were screams from the alarmed students. Among them Thrishta was the first to notice Ranka, she surveyed the crime scene and frowned at all the evidence. Then Ranma came out from her classroom and heard random classmates crying, and teachers murmuring amongst themselves. She heard one of their conversations and pushed her way through the crowd towards the staircase, ignoring her teacher who was yelling at her to stay with the class. Her face turned pale as she caught sight of the dead body and her sister laying ontop of it, with a knife in one of her hands.

Ranka slowly opened her eyes somewhat, she could see a bunch of teachers in the room and two girls arguing with them. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. Ranma and Thrista kept on arguing with the one group of teachers, while the other group stood with them.

"She didn't do it!" Ranma explained once again to the opposing teachers.

"Yes she did! She was holding the knife, and her clothes and face were covered in blood! One of the teachers shot back angrily.

"That's right and she laying ontop of the other girl.' Another teacher explained.

Thrista rubbed at the temples of her head, while the arguing went on. "Clearly Ranka didn't murder that girl, she was set up."

The group of opposing teachers shot back. "We'll let the principal decide if she's guilty or not!"

Just then the principal came walking into the nurses office with a stern look. "Enough! I've come to a decision." Nodoka walked into the room following behind the principal with a sad expression on her face, as her eyes met with Ranko's. Ranma was struck with the grim realization that dawned in her mind, her mother knew from the half truth told that Ranka had demonic background and that she would believe it more so with this situation. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to find the real criminal and her heart pounded nervously. Her eyes met with Nodoka's once again and looked into them pleadingly, she had to try to change her mother's mind, Ranka was always sticking her neck out to save her and she owed to her to atleast try to get her out of this mess. Ranma pushed her way through the crowd of teachers to where her mother was, and ignored the protesting teachers making accusations about her since she was Ranka's sister. "Mom could we talk alone for a minute.." She looked away shyly and rubbed at her arm nervously.

Nodoka noted how upset Ranka looked, and she might know what had really gone on. So she excused herself and Ranko asking for a brief moment alone before they decided, much to the principal and teachers discontent.

Nodoka and Ranko went into an empty room, both took a moment to calm their nerves before discussing the matter. Ranko was the first one to start the conversation assertively. "Mom she didn't do it! I know your probably thinking that she did because she has a demonic background, but i know she wouldn't do something like that.." She looked down at the ground embarrassed for blurting it all out at Nodoka. Nodoka had a sad expression on her face, and embraced Ranko comforting her. "After i got the call from the principal for a split second i thought about that, but after thinking it over on my way over here I know she didn't do it. But Ranko understand, the principal's mind is set on her decision." She ran her hand down her daughters head in a petting motion.

Ranma looked up at Nodoka sad for a moment, then her sadness turned to anger towards the teachers and principal. "So without knowing the facts their going to assume that she's guilty!"

Nodoka closed her eyes for a brief moment, and patted Ranko's head gently. "I know it's not fair, but what happens, happens. But i will not allow them to have Ranka, i may however have to agree to certain things Ranko..but that doesn't mean I'll carry them out if there too extreme." She looked up as she heard knocking on the door, knowing that their time was up. "It's time, remember what i said Ranko." Ranma let go of Nodoka and they both walked out of the room, and back into the nurses's office.

One of the teachers looked over at Nodoka and Ranko as they entered the room and huffed. "It's about time." The principal cleared her throat before she announced her decision. "We the faculty of Asadaiba find Ranka Saotome guilty, and expelled from this school as of right now."

Nodoka bowed her head in agreement. The one group of teachers all glared in Ranko's direction, the principal coughed to warn them. "As for Ranko Saotome she can still attend this school for the time being, but she will be monitored for safety measures you understand Mr's Saotome."

Nodoka gave the principal and the group of teachers a stern glare, and tightened her fist. "You don't need to worry about that, Ranko won't be attending your school any longer. Why should she if your going to lay judgement upon her, because you assume she's dangerous. We'll be leaving now, you can rest at ease." She scooped up Ranka from the bed gently, carrying her in her arms as she walked out of the room with Ranko following next to her.

Ranma stayed by Ranka's side, while Nodoka went off to find a new school for them to attend after she had changed Ranka and taken care of her bloody uniform. Ranma finished stirring the soup that Nodoka had made before leaving, and set the tray down on the floor as she just stared out the window blankly. Ranka suddenly woke up from her nightmare that she had been having, her heart was racing as she looked around frantically. She started to calm down somewhat as she realized that she was in her room, she caught sight of Ranma who was just starring out the window. Ranma heard Ranka moving about and shifted her gaze towards her. "Ah your awake finally, mom made you some lunch you should eat it." She went back to looking out the window.

Ranka looked down at the tray of food, and then back at Ranma rubbing at her head. She tried to move one of her legs and whinced at the pain, unable to move it. She sighed as she understood that one of her legs was broken, and that her nightmare had really happened, that it wasn't a dream. "So i bet they all think i did it right.."

Ranma was still starring out the window, and tightened one of her fists full of anger again. "Yeah..they kicked you out of school."

Ranka pretended to laugh for a second, to attempt to make herself feel better. "I had a feeling that they'd do that, that's ok i didn't have any friends there anyways.." She sat herself up straight and pulled the tray of food closer to her, grabbing the bowl of soup and sipping some of it. She actually had no appetite at all but she knew it would make Ranma and Nodoka less worried if she ate. It would also give her more strength so that she could use her magic to heal her leg in a day or so.

Ranma had a good idea of how Ranka was actually feeling, and that she was just trying to lighten the mood. "Don't worry you'll find friends at whatever new school your going to.. Mom's out looking for one as we speak, I'll probably be going to the same school as you again.."

Ranka finished her soup and set the bowl down onto the tray. "They kicked you out? You didn't do anything wrong.."

"I didn't get kicked out, but they were going to watch my every move, so mom told them off and took me out of Asadaiba as well. I would've quit anyways, those bastards jumping to conclusions like that." She slammed her fist down onto the window frame, and gritted her teeth somewhat.

Akane who had seen Nodoka at Furikan, had rushed off to go tell Ranma that she had seen his mother there. She had to ask some people for directions but she had made it to Nodoka's house finally and knocked on the door. While she was knocking she had forgotten that Ranma was probably in school like she should be, but instead she had skipped out of her class to warn him. The more she thought about it the more her anger started to show, and she let it out in one kick to the door and screamed Ranma loudly.

Ranma stuck her head out from the window, starring down at Akane with a puzzled looking expression on her face. Her expression changed to a freaked out one when the door fell down with a crash from the strong kick. "Oh crap.."

Akane had noticed Ranma and was starring up at her till she hard the door fall down with a crash, leaving her with a stunned expression on her face. "Oh no.."

Ranma got up from the floor and raced downstairs to where the front door used to be, and gave akane a look. "Jeez..what are you doing here Akane, and why did you kill the door?"

Akane looked sheepish for a minute, then she glared at Ranma. "Why aren't you at school huh!"

Ranma glared back at her with a smug expression. "Well why aren't you?"

Akane grumbled and crosses her arms trying to calm herself down, she was still angry but at the same time excited that Ranma was there. "I came because i saw your mother at Furikan, it's not like her to be there."

Ranma rubbed at head for a moment. "Well i don't know maybe she wants Ranko to go to Furikan."

Akane gave Ranma a weird look. "Ranma you as a guy attend Furikan, what if she finds out?" Ranma thought about it for awhile, and didn't really see it as a big deal since she could just tell Nodoka that he was off on another training trip.

"She'll just think that he's out on another training trip."

"Oh so meanwhile Ranko will go to Furikan and that will make it all ok, you know Ranma your always a girl i never see you as a guy anymore. If i didn't know better I'd say that you like being Ranko.."

Ranma growled and tightened her fist, but didn't raise it at Akane. "Look you think this is easy for me! I have to pretend to be someone else, and i can't runaway from this lie because I'm so deep in it.."

"Why don't you just tell her then Ranma.." Akane looked at her pleadingly.

"Oh and get killed by my own mother, I'd rather keep pretending to be her daughter Ranko and keep her happy that way.."

Akane looked away for a moment, before looking at Ranma again. "So your not going to come back to the Tendo Dojo?"

"I really don't have that choice Akane, but that doesn't mean i won't visit." She looked down at the ground and grimaced at the door. "I've had rough day so far, so i really don't need this.."

Akane suddenly remembered that someone was missing, for awhile she hadn't remembered Ranma had a sister now. "Ranma..where's your sister?"

Ranma looked away and tightened her fist. "Upstairs resting, like i said it's been a rough day so far.."

"Is she alright?" She could tell by the expressions on Ranma's face that something really bad had happened to Ranka,and that's why they were both home and not at school.

Ranma nodded and was still looking down at the ground. "Remember how i told you how she was created, well Satan's got her friend working for him and she's been harassing Ranka constantly.. I thought it was cooling down and i let my guard down and she hurt her again, and got her kicked out of Asadaiba..and those damn teachers all put the blame on her without getting evidence.."

"Ranma I'm so sorry, i kind of understand now..your mom is trying to find a new school for Ranka."

Ranma nodded again and stepped over the fallen door, and bent down picking it up and putting it back into place carefully. "You can go see her if you want, I'll be up in a sec."

Akane nodded and went inside and upstairs to the room where she saw Ranka starring at her leg. "Ranka.."

Ranka looked up and saw Akane and smiled somewhat. "Oh hi Akane, what brings you here?" Akane knelt down near Ranka and eyed her leg that was all bandaged up. "Ranka did you break your leg?" Ranka looked at her leg and then back at Akane. "Well i guess Ranma told you what happened then, that i supposably killed a classmate. Oh the leg..yeah i fell down the stairs."

Akane suddenly embraced Ranka to her chest hoping to comfort her, Ranka was taken back by this and just stayed still for awhile. Her eyes didn't tear up but her face was partially red and her eyes had a sort of blank look to them for a moment before she looked at Akane. "Akane you don't need to force yourself ,I know your not crazy about me, nor am I crazy about you." She gently shoved Akane's embrace away and fell back down onto the futon where she just stared at the wall. Akane had her hands where she had been embracing Ranka and just sat there in a frozen state as her mind told her that she had acting so abruptly because she was thinking that Ranka was Ranma and her face flushed bright red as she realized this. It was hard though since Ranka did look exactly like Ranma's girl side, but she had to get past this. "Well i know, but if you end up going to Furikan maybe we could become friends?"

Ranka eyed her somewhat for a minute and then turned her head away from her. "I'd rather not have any friends, now if you don't mind I'd like to be left alone." She managed to pull the covers up over her head and closed her eyes. Akane sighed and stood up leaving the room and going off to find Ranma.

After getting both the girls accepted into Furikan she hurried home to tell them the good news as she made her towards the house. Ranma had just finished testing out the door a couple of times before she spotted Nodoka coming up behind her, she jumped back and laughed while she was rubbing the back of her head nervously. "Hey mom." Nodoka eyed Ranko suspiciously for jumping back so suddenly. "Ranko is there something your not telling me?"

Ranma knew that she was onto her, and she would probably find out about the door sooner or later. "Um well my cousin akane came by and she broke the door, but I fixed it.."

Nodoka smiled and patted her on the head before going inside the house. "I see, well I'm glad you told me the truth about the door. Is Akane-chan still here?" She smiled as she spotted Akane coming into the room. "Hello Akane."

Akane smiled at Nodoka and greeted her before walking over to where Ranma was. "I just stopped by to see Ranko.." Nodoka noted the expression on Akanes face and the sudden pause during her sentence. "Akane did you by any chance visit Ranka?"

Ranma eyed Akane's expression as well, wondering what went on between her and her sister while she had been upstairs. Nodoka was quite good when it came to finding things out and pin pointed the cause for akane's expression. "Akane was Ranka mean to you?"

Akane shook her head and pleaded with Nodoka. "No she's just upset, she just wanted to be alone that's all."

Nodoka had a stern look on her face. "Still that's no reason for her to be rude to you, besides i don't want her going into that state of mind again." With that being said she made her way out of the room and upstairs.

Ranma smacked her hand to her forehead. "Aww man this isn't good.."

"I'm sorry i didn't mean to get her into trouble with your mom.." Akane rubbed at her arms feeling out of place. Ranma shook her head and starred at Akane. "I didn't say it was, I'm just worried because she gets into these weird moods and tries to do some crazy things.. I'm going up there, you coming or not?" Ranma walked out of the room without looking back to see if she was following or not and made her way upstairs. Akane had of course decided to follow after Ranma and followed her into the room.

Nodoka's anger had melted away when she saw Ranka just laying on the futon starring blankly her head half way under the covers, she knelt down beside her and ran one of her hands through her hair. "Ranka i heard you were being rude to Akane, I know your not in the best of moods but that's no excuse." Ranka didn't look at her but she did reply to her in a quiet tone. "Why does it hurt so much.." Nodoka looked alarmed and jerked her hand away. "Is your leg in a lot of pain dear?" Ranka was quiet after that and wouldn't talk no matter what her mother said to her, and this caused Nodoka to become upset. She looked up at Ranko and Akane trying her best not to cry, then back at Ranka. "Ranka i got you and Ranko into Furikan High, so you'll both be going to the same school as Akane-chan now." She managed to smile somewhat, but noted that Ranka wasn't responding and she couldn't take being in the room at the moment and left the room hoping that Akane or Ranko could snap Ranka out of her lifeless state, but no matter how hard they tried no one was able to get through to her and they let her be.

Ranka eventually drifted off to sleep and her mind was still conscious and as she slept she found herself confronting herself, the other her looked very angry. Ranka starred blankly at her. "Who are you?"

The other her replied in an angry tone. "I'm you, but you can call me Onna. You know your being really pathetic over loosing Ivory."

Ranka glared at the other her and tightened her fist. "She was my friend!"

"Keyword she was, your friend is no more and yet you let this shell push you around." She snapped her fingers and the recent events rolled by on a large screen. "So your just going to sit back and let this fake do what she wants to you, to humiliate you and upset you to the point where your upsetting everyone else. If it were me I'd fight back brutally and save Ivory like you said you would." The other her walked up to her and slapped her hard across the face. "Wake the hell up already! Fight back Ranka!"

Ranka's eyes shot open and she gasped as she looked around the room for the other her, her heart was racing as she realized that she had woken up and that the other her wasn't there, that it had been a dream. She looked down at her red gem necklace and closed her eyes as she gave it the commands, it lit up brightly and a beam of red light shot out from the gem to her broken leg, engulfing it a bright red glow. She opened her eyes and had a serious expression on her face, she knew that her inner self was right and that she was ready to fight this fake Ivory with no remorse. She slowly started to unravel the bandages that were wrapped around her broken leg, and pushed herself up to a sitting position.

She slowly wiggled her toes about for a moment, then she slowly started to remember what her mother had been saying to her yesterday when she had been in her life less state. "Furikan.." She hugged herself tightly as she thought about it, all of Ranma's friends and enemies showed up at that school and some even went there. She really didn't want to go through any of that, but she also knew that Ivory would follow her to Furikan or wherever she went to school, this made her sigh inwardly to herself.

Nodoka who had been worrying the rest of the day yesterday and the whole morning finally went upstairs to check on Ranka and peeked in through the doorway. "Ranka are you alright dear?" She was afraid to walk into the room and see the girl in that life less state again, but she pushed herself forward into the room and to her relief Ranka was sitting up and looking quite lively. She couldn't help the overwhelming feelings that engulfed her and she ran over to her daughter and embraced her tightly. "Oh thank kami your alright Ranka..me and Ranko were so worried about you.."

Ranka sighed again but she was quite happy to be in her mothers embrace, but upset at herself for making her loved ones worried about her well being again. "I'm sorry about yesterday mom, I don't know what came over me, I guess i was in shock over the whole ordeal."

Nodoka smiled and released her embrace, and picked up the garment that she had dropped and showed it to Ranka. "Remember what I told you yesterday about going to Furikan from now on? Well here's the cute uniform that you'll be wearing from now on."

Ranka almost fell over from seeing such an uncute school uniform, but she steadied herself before she did. She usually sugar coated things with her mother but this time she couldn't and she didn't care if she was being rude. "It's butt ass ugly, I'm not wearing that thing.." She crossed her arms and had a serious expression on her face.

Nodoka put her hand to her mouth at hearing such a response from her daughter, she was pretty upset but at the same time appreciated that she told her the truth about how she felt and that she was feeling better since she was expressing her self. "Ranka..It's a very lovely dress, you should be flattered to wear it."

Ranka shook her head and she twitched violently just from looking at the dress. "I just can't see it..besides how come i can't wear my Asadaiba uniform instead. Akane showed me some pictures of this boy at her school and he doesn't have to wear their uniform, and I'll feel more comfortable wearing my old one.." She put on a sad poutie face hoping that she could persuade her mother to agree with her.

Nodoka gave in only because she wanted Ranka to feel as comfortable as possible and she wasn't asking much. "Oh alright dear you can wear your old one, but I would've thought that you'd want to wear one that covers you more since tatewaki kuno goes to Furikan." She giggled before leaving the room, and going downstairs.

Ranka found her eyes twitching as it dawned upon her, that annoying, loud mouthed kendoist went to Furikan and with her old uniform she'd be asking for it.. She bit her lip slightly as she understood the predicament she was getting herself into, but damn it she wasn't going to wear that Furikan uniform. She thought to herself that Akane wears the Furikan uniform and kuno still chases after her, so it wouldn't change the situation regardless of which uniform she wore or how she did her hair etc etc. She grumbled and pushed herself up off the floor gently and stood on both of her feet since the healing process was nearly done, and left the room not noticing that she was wearing pj's and carefully descended down the stairs.

Ranma was sitting by the tv laying on her side munching on rice crackers just starring at the tv, her mind was blank since she had been so worried about Ranka's condition. Ranma gagged on the rice cracker she was eating as someone sneaked up behind her and hugged her tightly, when she looked up and saw who it was she almost spit it out. Ranka giggled and let go of Ranma so she could swallow what she was choking on. "Sorry did I freak you out much?" Ranma finished sipping her glass of water and cleared her throat, but not before slugging Ranka on her arm with a playful punch. "You seem like your in a completely different mood, so what happened to you hmm?"

Ranka smiled and rubbed at her arm somewhat, since she had been caught off guard. "Well i had myself talk some sense to myself I guess you could say. So do we have to go to school today? Because i really don't want to.." She flopped down next to Ranma and grabbed a rice cracker from the bowl and started to munch on it. Ranma rubbed at her head thinking for a moment. "Um no we don't go till tomorrow, so why are you so hesitate to go hmm?" She smirked at Ranka and grabbed her head putting her into a headlock.

Ranka tried to remove herself from the headlock, but she was still healing somewhat so she wasn't at her full strength. "Nothing.."

Ranma smirked again and started to give her noogies. "Is it because Kuno goes to Furikan hmm?" Ranka was finally able to get free from the headlock and tackled Ranma pinning her down on the floor, and she started to tickle both sides of Ranma's stomach. "Well would you want to go with that lunatic hanging around there?" Ranma laughed and gently shoved her off of her and then both grabbed each other in headlocks till Nodoka came into the room giving them both a stern look which made both of them release one another and try to look innocent. Ranma rubbed at the back of her head nervously since this might lead her mom to investigate her behavior. "Um we were just kidding around with each other that's all."

Nodoka hadn't noticed that Ranka's leg was better and was upset that Ranko was rough housing with her in her condition. "Ranko you shouldn't be so rough on your sister.."

Ranka jumped in to defend her sister, since her mom didn't know that she wasn't hurt anymore. "No it's okay mom my legs not broken anymore I heal really fast." She had a smug grin on her face as she waited for Nodoka to notice that she had walked down the stairs on both of her legs, and timed it just right as Nodoka ran over and embraced her tightly. "You shouldn't have come downstairs without any help though Ranka, you might've upset your leg by using it so rashly and so soon." Ranka shook her head and reassured her mother that her leg was fine and that it wouldn't be unsettled by her coming down the stairs. Nodoka was still embracing Ranka for awhile before she stopped and then she clasped her hands together. "Let's all go out and celebrate for the new school and Ranka's fast recovery, we can even invite that kuno boy and akane and whoever else you two would like to invite."

Ranma and Ranka grimaced at the mention of kuno, and Ranma was the first to protest. "But mom..I'm sure too many visitors would overwhelm Ranka, so we can just all go out and she won't be overwhelmed. Right Ranka?"

Ranka nodded her head appreciating how fast Ranma had talked their mom out of inviting kuno. "Yeah..i don't feel like having visitors just yet, but if just we went out I'd be ok with that."

Nodoka sighed somewhat and then put on a happy face once again, she couldn't help but notice how both of her daughters acted when kuno was mentioned. But perhaps in time they would act differently towards him since her and Kalu had high hopes that one of the girls would marry kuno some day. "Alright dear I wouldn't want to overwhelm you, so just the three of us will go out somewhere nice to celebrate. But Ranka tomorrow is a school day, and you will have to be around alot of people."

Ranka rubbed at the back of her neck nervously not wanting to be reminded that she would have to attend Furikan tomorrow. "I know..but it's still overwhelming.."

Nodoka put one of her hand on Ranka's shoulder and patted it lightly. "It'll be alright dear your sister will be going with you and Akane, but today you don't have to think about it. Now it's almost past lunch time so go upstairs and get dressed your still in your pj's and you can't go to a restaurant in your pj's." She giggled somewhat and took her hand off of Ranka's shoulder and went off to get ready for the outing.

After her mother and sister had gotten ready and they were all walking down the street into town where the restaurants were, Ranma was deep in thought after realizing that tomorrow she was going back to Furikan, but her mother had enrolled her as Ranko Saotome.. She really had no intention to go as Ranko and get even more attention then she did as a guy as Ranma, and Ranka was going which would make things easier for Ranma. If he happened to change into a girl and people caught glimpses of him, he could have Ranka say it was her, but that could cause problems for Ranka in the long run. Ranma sighed to herself as she agonized over what to do tomorrow, but she figured that eventually she'd come to a conclusion. Nodoka snapped Ranma out of her thoughts as she came to a stop near the NekoHanten. "This looks like a nice place doesn't it you too?" Ranka made a face as she realized who's restaurant they were standing in front, and Ranma twitched and grabbed her mother and sister by the hands and zoomed off to a random restaurant that was further away and without looking pointed at it. "Lets go eat here instead it looks nicer then that other one!" She put on a happy puppy dog face to lure her mother away from the restaurant where shampoo and Cologne worked as well as mousse at times. Nodoka was quite surprised at how fast Ranko had rejected and ranaway from that other restaurant and would have to make a note of this at a later time, she then turned her attention to the new restaurant they were standing in front of. "Uchans..we'll it does smell really good alright Ranko we'll eat here then." Ranma face faulted after noticing that they were standing in front of Uchans, but her mothers mind was made up and Ukyou was better then Shampoo meeting her mother. But first she had to talk to Ukyou about some things. Ranka instinctively knew what Ranma was worrying about and stepped up for her since she had been doing that for her lately. "Ooh mom can we go to that store while Ranko gets us a table, i really want to go." She put on the cutest face possible and made Nodoka melt while Ranma went off to speak with Ukyou while Ranka went off with Nodoka to the store across the street.

Ranma entered the restaurant thanking Ranka over and over again in her mind. Ukyou had just finished cleaning up a customers plate as she spotted Ranma coming towards the counter. "Ran-chan! What brings you here? I haven't heard from you in a couple of days.." Her happiness turned to a serious mood as she crossed her arms waiting for an explanation. Ranma sat down on one of the stool chairs and put her hand to her head. "Listen Ukyou i know i have alot of explaining to do..but right now just listen i don't have much time.. My mom is coming in here soon with my sister Ranka, she doesn't know that I'm Ranma..I'm Ranko her daughter, so please Uchan I'm begging you to just play along.." She looked up at Ukyou and into her eyes pleadingly.

Ukyou couldn't contain herself after hearing Ranma's mother was coming to her restaurant. "Your mother! Oh Ranma huney I'll try to play along, but you owe me details later on." Ranma sighed. "Thanks..I guess i can tell you more at school tomorrow since I'll be going to Furikan again." Ukyou clasped her hands together still holding a tiny spatula and twirled around all excited. "Oh Ranchan that's great news, I'll expect a full explanation tomorrow then." Ranma nodded and tapped her fingers on the counter as she waited for her mom and sister to come in.

Nodoka and Ranka finally came out of the store, Nodoka holding two bags and gushing over the hair accessories that she had bought. The two made their way across the street and entered Uchans, Nodoka smiled as she spotted Ranko and took a seat next to her on one of the stools as well as Ranka on the other side of Nodoka. Ukyou couldn't help but stare at Nodoka and how beautiful Ranma's mother was, that and how Ranma and his sister both looked like her in many ways. Ukyou still wasn't all that fond of Ranma's new sister after what she had done to her restaurant, but the girl seemed different from how she used to be. Nodoka looked at the menu listings that were hanging from the wall on wooden slabs, and waited for her daughters to put their orders in then she put hers in as well. After the orders were made and served everyone started eating their meals. After finishing and paying the bill they left Uchans and went back home to get ready for the big day tomorrow.

The sun pushed it's way through the clouds that kept trying to block it's path, and Nodoka sent the girls off to school after she had fussed with their outfits and hair as well. Ranma trudged down the street after they were far enough away from Nodoka's sight and took the bow out of her hair and stuck it in her pocket grumbling, Ranka on the other hand kept her black bow in her hair and walked along side her sister. Ranma waited till they were far enough away from the house and on a different street till she started to talk to Ranka about her plan. "Ranka would you mind um..taking my place while were at school? It's just..I've been stuck as Ranko for so long.."

Ranka looked up from the ground and at Ranma noticing how depressed she looked, and she knew that this pretending to be Ranko was draining Ranma so this wasn't a big deal to her. "Sure I'll take your place while were at school, but I'm still Ranka not Ranko."

Ranma's eyes sparkled and she grasped Ranka's hands and her eyes were all teary. "Oh thankyou Ranka your an angel, I really need this."

Ranka nodded and pried Ranma's hands off of hers feeling insecure from the way Ranma was acting. "Yes yes I know, so we'll just say that mom made a mistake with the transfer then?"

Ranma snapped out of her desperate state and rubbed at her head. "Well that idea does sound good, but what if they call her up and tell her that we told them that?" Ranka shrugged her shoulders and put one of her fingers to her lips. "Well your forgetting that I know magic, so don't worry about it. I owe you from many occasions so I'll handle it."

Ranma's eyes got all big and puppy dog like and if she had a tail it would probably be wagging. "Oh your such a good sister, I need to stop off at Doctor Tofu's on the way and change. You can change into the furikan outfit if you want it won't attract as much attention."

Ranka crossed her arms and gave Ranma a stern looking expression on her face. "I don't care if my Asadaiba uniform attracts more attention, I am not wearing that butt ass ugly thing that they call a girl's uniform.." She made a gagging noise to show her sister how dead set she was against the uniform.

Ranma sweatdropped and couldn't help but laugh at how silly Ranka was acting, but it made her happy since she seemed like she had gotten over the events that had happened in the past days. "Alright already i get it, but yeah the uniform for Furikan girls are outdated. Maybe they do that so the guys will be less likely to bother with them." Ranma smiled as Doctor Tofu's clinic came into view and she quicken her pace to get there as fast as possible. Ranka followed behind as usual at a steady pace and played with her hair absent mindedly. "You go on ahead I'll wait outside for you." Ranma nodded and ran into the back of Doctor Tofu's clinic and disappeared inside.

Ranka laid back somewhat against the brick wall and let her mind wander while she waited for Ranma to come back. She really wasn't looking forward to going to Furikan and dealing with everything Ranma had to deal with, that and she would also have to deal with kuno pestering her about his pigtailed goddesses where about's, or that the people that she had wronged while she had been controlled would appear. She sighed and hung her head while she ran her fingers through her soft silky red hair, another thought that ran through her mind was that Ivory would eventually find her and probably transfer to Furikan just to make her life a living hell. But Ranka's dream her had talked alot of sense into her and she wasn't going to let this fake Ivory get to her anymore, she would ignore it if she acted like the Ivory she knew as well because she knew that it was just another trap. Ranma came up behind her and pushed her away from the wall gently startling her and snapping her out of her daze. "What the hell was that for!" She whacked him on the head with her bookbag looking quite irritated. "Pull another stunt like that and I wont' pretend to be Ranko for you..."

Ranma eeped and apologized to her. "Sorry I'm just all excited, I mean look at me I'm a frickin guy again!"

Ranka's anger quickly melted away at seeing Ranma so happy and excited. "Alright I get it already. Heh your sly you packed your boy outfit in your bookbag you had this all planned out huh."

Ranma rubbed at the back of his neck and gave off a cheesy grin that answered Ranka's statement. Ranka smiled back at him but felt herself getting very nervous as they reached the distant gates of Furikan High School. Ranma was also kind of nervous since he had to stop going for a couple of days, and he knew Kuno was going to start with him big time. Both siblings let out a big deep sigh as they entered the school gates and wandering students that caught sight of them started chattering amongst themselves.

Then it came like a flash of lighting, the dramatic entrance of Tatewaki Kuno and his famous rose that he threw at his loved ones, Ranka dodged it quite skillfully and grumbled to herself since she knew what was coming next. Ranma had his hand to his head looking aggravated since he was going to get into a fight with Kuno. Kuno stepped forward and started the argument. "Oh lovely Ranka such a treat to see such a goddess attending the same school as me." Then his gaze shifted to who was standing next to his goddess Ranka and he started with his usual argument. "Ranma Saotome you vile sorcerer get away from the lovely Ranka, is it not enough that you have enslaved the pigtailed goddess now you must have them both!"

Ranma facefaulted and groaned, then he shot back at Kuno. "Why the hell would I enslave my sisters!" He had almost said sister instead of sisters and that would've been worse.

Kuno took out his kendo stick and pointed it in Ranma's direction. "Lies you just want them both for your sick naive fantasies."

Ranma grumbled under his breath. "Oh yeah like you don't.."

Ranka had heard enough and stepped in finally. "Kuno stop accusing my brother of such things, like I said before he's not a vile sorcerer..."

Kuno suddenly popped up behind Ranka and embraced her. "Oh sweet and lovely goddess Ranka your naive mind has been tainted and he's making you say these things, but do not worry I Tatewaki Kuno shall save you and we can live happily ever.." Ranka slammed one of her legs into Kuno's pelvic area making him loose the embrace, and Ranma plowed his fist straight into Kuno's face sending him flying and grabbed Ranka by the hand and ran into the school looking pissed off.

After they had stopped by the principals office and found out Ranka's schedule and Ranka worked her magic on the principal so he didn't say a thing about Ranko, they walked off towards class with Ranma kind of excited that she was in his class, but in other ways he wasn't which were Ranka's thought's as well. "You know were both going to get swarmed with questions.."

Ranma nodded in agreement at what his sister had just said and had his hands in his pocket as they got closer to the classroom. "Yeah i know..I'll go first." With that he opened up the door and just like they had both predicted all the students were swarming them with questions. Daisuke and Hiroshi were one of the many that started with their questions. "Hey Ranma your absent for days and then you come back with a hottie, so details man who is she?" Hiroshi kept trying to pry some information out of his friend. Daisuke wasn't as forward as Hiroshi was about it but he was curious just the same. "Where have you been Ranma? Who's the girl with you?" While Ranma was being bugged by his friends and random students, a good amount of male students had managed to slip by and had crowded Ranka shouting out random things. "Hey cutie pie you wanna go out with me!" Others just stared at her short skirt and how much skin her uniform showed off compared to Furikans, one of the shy ones fell over with a nose bleed. Ranka was beet red in the face and also a little annoyed at how the obnoxious boys were crowding her. Finally the teacher came by and cleared out all the curious students, she then apologized to Ranka and lead her to the front of the room to introduce her after the students settled down some. Ranma ended up having to sit down in his seat since he wasn't a new student, and his friends were still trying to ask him questions.

Akane and Ukyou tried to focus on both the Saotome siblings, and both were happy that Ranma had returned to school as a guy. Ukyou was anxiously awaiting the explanation from Ranma about yesterday. Akane was also ready to swarm Ranma with wanting answers that she hadn't gotten yet. The bell rang and that meant that class was in session, the teacher then introduced Ranka to the class and had her take a seat next to Ukyou, this disappointed Ranma a little bit but on the otherhand if she had sat next to him Daisuke and Hiroshi they would've swarmed her. But she was still close and Ranma could keep an eye on her since he knew what a good amount of the guys were thinking or what they might try.

When the bell for lunch rang, Ranma grabbed Ranka and dragged her off with him before any of the guys could bother her. Akane was furious that he had just taken off without talking to her about anything, but she put on a happy face for her friends. Ukyou on the other hand was content since she knew Ranma would tell her when he was ready to, but if it wasn't today then he'd regret it.

Ranma stopped when they were at the bread shop, and let go of her hand and caught his breath. Ranka knew what he had done since she could read his mind if she wanted to, and she wasn't too mad just a little startled. "I'm not wearing the furikan uniform.." She crossed her arms dead set against it, since she had a feeling that's what he was thinking. Ranma groaned and brought some bread and gave Ranka the fruit filled ones. "I know but you wouldn't attract them as much." Ranka huffed and put her hands on her hips. "Really i don't think it'd make a difference, do you think happosai would care? No he'd just flip the furikan skirt, and besides i wore shorts underneath I'm not that stupid.." She looked at the breads that her brother had handed to her and then back at him. "You don't like the fruit filled ones?"

Ranma shook his head and munched on his soba noodle bread as they walked back to the classroom after getting drinks. Ranka shrugged and opened up the banana one and started munching on it happily and ignored the students as they sat down at the table group with Daisuke and Hiroshi. Ranma had pulled out his bento lunch box and warned his friends ahead of time that if they bothered Ranka too much he'd have to hurt them. Daisuke eyed Ranka and then started talking to Ranma. "So Ranma who is she?" "Yeah Ranma were you best buds you can tell us." Hiroshi piped in as well.

Ranma finished eating one of his breads and started opening up one of the other ones. "She's my sister, she was going to another school for awhile and well she lives with my mom so I didn't know about her till I ran into her a couple of days ago." Ranka nodded content with the explanation Ranma had given to his friends and kept munching on the banana bread at a steady pace enjoying it. Hiroshi decided to try and talk to Ranka. "It's nice to meet you Ranka, so your other school was it an all girls school?"

Ranka nodded and finished her banana bread and started to unwrap the melon one. "Yes I guess the uniform say's it all, and it's nice to meet you Hiroshi and Daisuke." Then she started to munch on the melon bread with a happy face.

Hiroshi and Daisuke blushed and Ranma gave them somewhat of a glare to keep them in line, the rest of the lunch went by with them trying to talk to Ranka every now and then and some other students as well with Ranma fending most of them off. Akane was fuming mad but kept it under control till she could go blow off some steam, Ukyou still stayed content telling herself that the school day was far from over and Ranma would fill her in before the end of the day.

Meanwhile at the Nekohanten Shampoo had received a tip off for her revenge against Ranma's sister Onna, a letter signed by anonymous had mysteriously arrived telling her that the girl that she seeked revenge upon was now attending Furikan High school. Shampoo made sure that her great grandmother didn't know about the letter and went off to Furikan where she watched the girls every move from the shadows, and it pained her how close the girl and her airen were.

A couple of classes later gym glass came and Ranma had to leave Ranka alone, but Ranka told him that she'd be alright and they'd see each other after they changed. Ranka looked around the locker room and found an empty locker and put her bag into it after pulling out the Furikan High gym outfit, which she wasn't fond of but she'd rather where that then have to wear the uniform. She groaned and changed into the outfit, and blushed as she noticed some of the girls were staring at her. One of them was quite forward. "Oh you have such big boobs and a nice figure Ranka." Ranka's face turned bright red at what the girl had just said. "Um well yeah I guess so, so do you." She closed the locker and ran off outside and found she was feeling really hot in the head and went off to sinks that were in a deserted area and ran the cold water and splashed her face over and over again till she felt she had cooled down.

Shampoo hid behind a tree plotting to make her move against the girl that had deceived her and made her think that she was her airen. She tightened her fist the more she thought about it how those joyful words that had been uttered to her were fake and that she would not be shamed again. She jumped out from behind the tree and lunged her bonbori's at the girl. "I kill you!"

Ranka was quite startled at seeing shampoo and her martial arts instincts took over and she quickly ducked and jumped over the second attack, and jumped up into a nearby tree faster then shampoo could follow her. She watched the battle hungry amazon stalk around looking for her. She sighed and then a thought hit her and she remembered what she had done to shampoo when she was being controlled by Satan and groaned. It wouldn't be easy to apologize for what she had done since shampoo was out to kill her, and it took alot to get through to shampoo. Shampoo zoomed in on the girl's sigh and pulled out her sword and leaped up into the tree and slashed her sword about furiously. "I kill!" Ranka eeped and jumped down from the tree and ran off as fast as she could, Shampoo followed hot on her trail saying the same thing over and over again slashing her sword around.

Ranka ran by a few by standers and kept running till she ended up in the field and looked around not seeing any sign's that shampoo was still following her. "Oh man this isn't good." She tried to catch her breath till she saw shampoo come down from out of the sky swinging her sword around wildly, Ranka jumped away and avoided the swipe from the sword but lost her balance and fell back onto the ground into the grass. Shampoo rushed towards her and slammed her sword down towards Ranka, Ranka rolled away at the last minute and shampoo's sword hit the sprinkler's metal top and made it go off making Ranka sit up and cry out in surprise from getting sprayed by the water. Shampoo felt herself changing and cried out but it turned into an upset meow as she fully turned into a cat. That wouldn't stop her from getting her revenge with the girl so close, she lunged at Ranka with her claws all out and hissed at her, Ranka eeped and her gem started to light up ready to counter attack. But before it could a blur appeared and a large whack could be heard as the kendo sword smacked down ontop of the cat's head making it fall down onto the ground with a thud. Shampoo groaned and gave out a small meow before falling unconscious.

Ranka looked up at who it was and groaned and covered her shirt with her hands since her shirt was soaked as well as her since the sprinklers were still on. Kuno looked down at Ranka. "Goddess Ranka are you alright? I saved you from the jealous feline, no doubt she was jealous of such a goddess such as yourself." Ranka sweatdropped at his pathetic speech, if he hadn't have butted in she could've used her barrier against shampoo. But he did save her and she knew it'd be rude if she didn't thank him somewhat. "Um sure..anyways thanks but just the same I could've handled myself." But Kuno was too busy rambling on about the usual about his goddess and other things he normally chattered about, Ranka rolled her eyes and pushed herself up off the ground and stood up started walking off while Kuno was lost in his fantasy world.

Ranka stopped walking till she was off on the other side of the field towards the woods and sat down underneath a tree taking off her soaked and wet shirt and wrung it out tightly and shook it before pulling it back on. Ukyou stepped out from the woods where she had been watching and thought that the girl was Ranma and had her hands on her hips. "It's about time sugar..now I want an explanation." Ranka blinked and looked up seeing Ukyou and her face turned bright red. "Ahh um did you see?" Ukyou sweatdropped at how weird Ranma was acting and then she looked again and noticed the girls hair was longer then Ranma's and loose which he never did, she realized it was his sister Ranka and her face turned bright red. "Sorry I thought you were Ranma..what are you doing out here anyways?" Ranka smirked slightly at Ukyou since she thought she was her brother for a second there. "Oh because of the having no modesty thing? I do but a wet shirt makes it kind of hard.. Well that's a long story and I know your still mad at me for what I did to your restaurant.."

Ukyou was still somewhat mad but since Ranma had explained to her and helped clean up the mess she wasn't furious anymore, and the girl she was looking at now looked and acted totally different from the one she had helped Ranma fight against. She was Ranma's sister after all and from the looks of it she felt that she was going through alot. "Well I am still a little mad but we can work that out I'm sure, so why are you all wet?" She sat down near Ranka and looked up at the sky. Ranka looked down at the ground for a minute and then sort of looked at Ukyou. "I'm really sorry about that..It's not like I wanted to do that, but I'll do anything to make it up to you. Um well Shampoo was attacking me and she set off the sprinklers.." Ukyou found herself getting angry at the mention of her rival and the fact that shampoo would attack Ranma's sister, but this was a good thing in a way making her the better fiance. She found herself smiling for a moment but then shook it off. "Why was shampoo attacking you?" Ranka sighed and put her head on her knee's. "Well when i was being controlled I pretended to be Ranma and told Shampoo a bunch of lies about marrying her and such, so amazons are really touchy about that sort of thing. So now I'm her number one enemy and she wants to kill me."

The more Ukyou heard from the girl the more she felt sorry for her, that she had done such horrible things and she knew she was doing them but she had no control. She was starting to understand Ranma's sister, and it angered her that Shampoo didn't even bother to think about it like Ukyou just had, but then Shampoo wasn't too bright she just lashed out. "Well I know Ranma huney won't like that. Now about paying me back I'll just have you do what I usually make Ranma do when he owes me." Ranka nodded and didn't mind dressing up to attract more customers for Ukyou's restaurant or to help her out for awhile. "So what are you doing out here?" Ukyou took out one of her smaller spatula's from the holder on her uniform and a cloth and started polished it. "I had study hall and decided to take a walk. So your name's Ranka now and not Onna, the last time I saw you Ranma referred to you as Onna."

Ranka's eyes widened somewhat as the name hit her like a ton of bricks and she looked away from Ukyou for a second. "That was the old me, Ranka has more of a meaning."

Ukyou had something on her mind that she wanted to ask Ranka but she didn't want to offend her or upset her by asking so she was quiet for awhile, Ranka caught on to exactly what was on her mind. "You want to ask me If I know everything Ranma does right? The answers is yes I have all his memories so I know everything about you." Ukyou wanted to jump up and do a little dance but she kept that inside her mind, by knowing this she knew that Ranma and Ranka were in sync most of the time and Ranka would know how he felt about her and all the things she wanted to know. She also felt like she was talking to Ranma and that made her happy as well. "Hey since your in my class and you we sit together why don't we be friends Ranka?"

Ranka's eyes widened and she just sat there frozen in a state of shock and tears started to form in her eyes. Ukyou noticed this and wondered what she said that made Ranka freak out so much. "Ranka are you alright?" Ranka unfroze and wiped the small tears out from her eyes and looked down at the ground. "It's not wise to be my friend or safe that's why.." Ukyou put her hand on one of Ranka's shoulders gently and patted it. "Did something happen to a friend of yours, and now your afraid to make new ones?" Ranka hugged her knee's together tightly and hid her face from Ukyou. "My first friend, Satan he corrupted her and turned her against me.." She found herself suddenly blurting out everything about what had happened with her former friend Ivory. "and she'll keep hurting me and torturing me because she's not the same anymore, she's not Ivory anymore." She found herself fighting back the overwhelming tears that started pouring out. "That's why I can't have any friends they'll get hurt by being with me." She kept trying to stop herself from crying till a loud voice interrupted and made her stop, she slowly recognized that it was the other her from her dream her inner voice. _"Jeez look at you, your being so damned pathetic! You didn't listen to a thing that I said did you? Listen and listen good damn it you have the power to protect your friends and family, have you forgotten that you can use magic.." _Ranka wiped away her tears again and gave some thought to what the other her had just said, she put her hand to her red gem and closed her eyes. Ukyou was a little startled when she saw a bright red glow come from underneath Ranka's shirt for a moment and then it disappeared. Ranka opened her eyes and breathed in and then out slowly and leaned her head against the tree. "I'm sorry I got a little emotional, and my gem reacted to my feelings." She pulled out the gem from underneath her shirt for a second and then put it back under. Ukyou's eyes almost bugged out of her head at seeing the cursed gem that she with her own eyes had seen Ranma break, she shook her head around and couldn't hold back as she pointed at it. "That can't be the same cursed gem that Ranma broke!" Ranka blinked and looked down at where her gem was and then back at Ukyou and smiled. "Oh i get it you think it's the same one, no I made myself a new one it's not evil like the other one Satan made me." Ukyou stopped pointing and a surprised expression was on her face for a second till she thought about and realized that she must've gotten a new gem and made a new necklace. "Oh I see..so it's not evil." Ranka shook her head and put her hands to where the gem was and felt the warmth from it. "No it's not, it's my friend you could say." Ukyou sweatdropped and rubbed at the back of her neck nervously. "Um well atleast it's not evil, so do you need a gem to survive I've always been curious about that."

Ranka eyed her with a weird expression and took her hands away from the gem. "I used to when I was in Satan's possession, but once I made myself my own gem I was freed and I can take it off and still survive but I still feel that it's part of me. I'm quite attached to it you could say." Ukyou nodded as she slowly took in everything Ranka was telling her and then she thought that since they were slowly getting closer to one another that she could ask her. "Ranka do you think Ranma will keep his promise and tell me what's been going on." Ranka eyed her and the sadness aurora was flaring around Ukyou as she looked off towards the school with hope in her eyes. "I'm sure he'll come, but you know Akane's all on him as well." Ukyou sighed and hugged her knee's together. "Figures.." Ranka scratched at her neck unsure of how to go about things with Ukyou. "Well if he doesn't get to you before the end of school, I'm sure he'll stop by your restaurant and tell you about it, I'd tell you what you want to know but I know you want him to and he should be the one to tell you."

Ukyou felt alot better from hearing that from Ranka and she knew that she could trust her and smiled. "Thanks Ranka." Then she noticed the gym outfit that Ranka was wearing and sweatdropped. "Um Ranka are you supposed to be in gym class?" Ranka started freaking out and flailing her arms around and jumped up quickly. "aaah i forgot all about gym class, Ranma's probably looking for me." She sighed and calmed down suddenly and smacked her hand to her forehead. "Gah I'm so stupid missing gym on my first day, well thanks Ukyou I'll talk to you later." She said goodbye to Ukyou and disappeared faster then lightning, leaving Ukyou quite happy as she walked back towards her class.

Ranma had been constantly trying to check on the girls side of the gym class trying to spot Ranka but the teacher always interrupted him and he had to go back to concentrating on completing the task. He finally spotted her with the rest of the girls and felt at ease. Ranka sighed with relief that Ranma hadn't been able to notice that she was missing, Akane on the other hand caught Ranka sneaking back from wherever she had disappeared off to and was quite curious. After the class ended shortly after Ranka had snuck back Akane approached Ranka in the locker room. Ranka looked up at Akane from where she was sitting and blinked. "Oh hi akane.." Akane had her arms crossed and looked a little miffed. "Ranka where did you go, you missed most of the class?" Ranka started undressing and tossed off the damp gym shirt and shivered somewhat, and Akane took quick notice of the shirt being damp. "Why is your gym shirt damp?" Ranka sighed and kept changing while she told Akane what had happened much to her discontent, but if she hadn't told her she just would've kept nagging and getting more and more angry. Akane sweatdroped and then she became quite angry. "Shampoo was here?" Ranka nodded and finished changing and started brushing out her almost dry hair. "Yes she was chasing me so that's why I missed gym class..." Akane felt content with her explanation, that just left Ranma's, with that she went back to her friends and left Ranka to herself.

The next couple of classes went by and then the end of school came as the bell rang, Ranma walked out of the room with Ranka after saying goodbye to his friends and he looked kind of upset. Ranka blinked and decided to poke and prod. "So why do you look angry?" Ranma had his hands in his pocket like he did when they had arrived. "Well the news of the day that's been going around the school is that you and shampoo were fighting.." Ranka sweatdropped knowing that she had been caught out and had no escape. "Ah it's not my fault she just came out of nowhere and started attacking me.. Someone must've told her that I was going to Furikan or something, she's still mad about what I did to her when I had no control.." She had her head down looking at the ground.

Ranma still looked angry but he wasn't mad at Ranka. "I told her it wasn't your fault and now she's trying to kill you..I guess I'm going to have to go see her and straighten her out.." Ranka shrugged. "If your going to do that I'd suggest stopping by Ukyous since you never explained to her about yesterday." Ranma almost tripped after hearing that. "Oh man I totally forgot, well I guess I'll have to see both of them..." He scratched at his head nervously. Ranka quirked an eyebrow at him. "Do you want me to come along?" Ranma was still scratching at his head. "Yeah if you showed up without Ranko mom would freak out." Ranka nodded in agreement. "That she would, so don't forget to change back into a girl before we go back."

Ranma rubbed at his head till and an idea popped up and he looked at Ranka with a strange smile on his face. "Hey why don't you keep Akane busy while I'm off talking with Ukyou and Shampoo?" Ranka threw her head back and laughed and gave him a smirk before she smacked him on his back really hard and flipped her hair like a prissy girl. "Ahah no way." Ranma's smile disappeared instantly replace with a frown. "Jeez thanks alot.." Ranka smacked him on the back again. "Hey now i said i wouldn't keep her busy, but I'll get Kuno to keep her busy." She had a devious smirk on her face and quirked one of her eyebrows at Ranma. Ranma's smile suddenly came back bigger then before. "Your the best sister ever, I'll go on ahead then."

Ranka nodded and watched Ranma take off like a bat out of hell, and then she went into the gym storage shed and rustled through her bag till she pulled out the blonde wig and put it on. Her and Ranma had brought the wig incase they had needed it to get out of the Ranko and Ranka thing. But Ranka's magic spell had worked, so it was still a good thing that they had taken it. She had also taken her furikan high uniform just in case she needed a change of clothes, and her other clothes were in the wash so she had to take it. Again it had turned out to be a good thing for the time being, she undressed out of her uniform and grumbled as she pulled on the furikan one and put hers into her bag after she pulled out the pair of glasses that went along with the wig. Then she reached back in and pulled out one of her notebooks and a pen and started writing really fast and signed it with Akane's name, she put the notebook and pen away after ripping out the page with the note on it and folded the paper and stuck it into one of her pockets.

She looked around before leaving the shed and went off to where Kuno usually practiced wearing her perfect disguise. She soon spotted him meditating in his spot and walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me Mr. Kuno I have a note from someone for you." Kuno looked behind him at the unusual looking blonde girl with geeky looking glasses and took the note politely. "Why thankyou miss." After he had taken the note Ranka smiled to herself and snuck off back to the shed where she changed back quickly and left the school grounds swiftly.

In the meantime Ranma had surprised Ukyou by showing up at the restaurant waiting by the door for her, then they both went inside and she started up the grill and happily gathered up the usual ingredients. Ranma sat in his usual chair and smiled as he watched Ukyou go through her usual routine, watching her cook her okonomiyaki always brought back happy memories of their childhood to him. Ukyou started pouring the dough mix out onto the grill and gathering the seasoning's and toppings. "So Ranchan I heard from Ranka that you were too preoccupied to talk to me at school, it means alot to me that you stopped by to tell me though."

Ranma rubbed at his head nervously and smiled somewhat. "Yeah like she said Akane's been up my ass all day pestering me.. So Ukyou your not mad at my sister anymore?" Ukyou finished up the first okonomiyaki by pouring the sauce on it and putting it on a plate and handing it to Ranma. "No you could say were friends now, she said she'll help me out with getting more customers the same way I always asked you to help. With a real girl were sure to attract alot of customers." She giggled and huggled one of her spatula's for a moment before becoming embarrassed since Ranma was watching. Ranma gave her a look before he started eating the okonomiyaki and devoured it in a matter of seconds. "Yeah i suppose she would, that's nice to hear that your not mad at her anymore. She's been going through alot lately and she needs more friends." Ukyou smiled and found herself blushing somewhat while she was pouring a glass of water for him. "Yeah i found that out when I saw her near the woods today. Moving on..lets discuss what happened yesterday.." She handed him the glass of water and started to gather up some more ingredients for a couple of oknomiyaki's just in case.

Ranma sipped some of the water from the glass and set it back down on the counter. "Well I've been pretending to be Ranko and I'm stuck since my mom told Ranko that she has to stay. Besides it'd break my mom's heart if Ranko suddenly disappeared, and if I told her the truth about my curse she'll make me commit seppuku.." He rubbed at one of his shoulders uncomfortably. Ukyou's smile disappeared at what she heard him say, that his own mother would make him kill himself if she found out about his curse. Also she had no idea that Ranma's mother was that sort of person, and she felt bad for her friend. "Well sugar I can understand why your stuck, and I'll do my best not to blow your cover. So Akane's all pissy because your not living at the Tendo Dojo anymore." She smiled inwardly to herself finding this a great chance to get on Ranma's mother's good side since she was now Ranka's friend and could easily get invited over. Ranma nodded and looked very gloomy after she had mentioned the Tendo Dojo. "Although it's kind of nice not being there, but then there's some things that I miss.."

Ukyou nodded and a thought occurred to her as she tried to pry some more information out of her fiance. "So do you have your own room at your mothers?" Ranma shook his head. "No Ranko shares the room with Ranka, at first it was really hard for me but it's actually alot better then sharing that small room with my dad back at Tendo's." Ukyou couldn't wait to get invited over by Ranka since she knew she'd be in the same room as Ranma and maybe she'd even get to be in the same bed with him or even next to him. Ranma sweatdropped as he noticed her blushing and smiling. "Um Uchan?" Ukyou snapped out of it and smiled at him. "Oh it's nothing Ranchan you know the grill is pretty hot." She went back to making the new batch of okonmiyaki's humming happily to herself.

Ranka walked into the restaurant and smiled as she spotted Ranma and Ukyou looking very happy. She took a seat next to Ranma and nudged his arm with hers. "Hey mission accomplished." Ranma noticed that Ranka had finally caught up and that she must've done what she said she was going to do and smiled at her. "Glad to hear it, so you and Ukyou are friends now huh." Ranka smiled and gave him an innocent look. "Well I guess so." Ukyou looked up from her cooking and smiled at Ranka. "Ranka hey you want some okonomiyaki too?" Ranka thought about it for a moment before answering. "Ok sure thing Ukyou." Ukyou seemed puzzled since Ranka she was expecting her to say the same thing Ranma would say. "Why just one?" Ranka smoothed her hair down from having the wig on top of it. "Well I'm sure mom's making a nice dinner so I don't want to fill up and disappoint her." This made Ranma think about not eating anymore okonomiyaki's, but one more couldn't hurt since he could never get enough of Ukyou's cooking. Ukyou realized then that Ranka wasn't exactly the same as Ranma in alot of ways, she had more manners then he did for one thing. She decided to try to get Ranka to invite her over for a sleep over while she had the chance. "So Ranka maybe we could have a sleepover one of these days hmm?" Ranka seemed startled again like she had when Ukyou had asked to be her friend, but she shook it off quickly. "Well I guess we could do that, but first I want to repay you for what I did like we talked about before."

Ukyou rubbed at her chin thoughtfully with one of her hands, while the other one finished up the batch of okonomiyaki's while she was chatting. "Well there's no set time, so you can come in and help out when you want to."

Ranma jolted up out of his seat as the words sleep over finally hit him, and in his mind he saw him stuck as Ranko and Ukyou trying to get into the same bed as him. He looked over at Ukyou and it suddenly made sense to him and he decided that it was time to go after he had his second helping. Ukyou served each one of the siblings their own dish and she started to clean up the mess on the grill while she hummed to herself.

After they had finished they both thanked Ukyou and said their goodbye's as they headed off towards the Nekohanten. Ranma shuddered at the thought since he knew the usual greeting he'd receive. Ranka on the other hand didn't look worried, but that didn't mean that she wasn't. Ranka stayed behind Ranma as they came up to the front entrance of the restaurant. Ranma braced himself as the door slid open and shampoo threw herself into the air and latched onto ranma snuggling against him. "Aiya Ranma finally come to see Shampoo, I so happy airen." Ranma just stood there like a statue for a minute before he started trying to get her off of him. Shampoo kept snuggling till her eyes locked on Ranka. Ranka slowly started to back away since she had a feeling what was going to come next, and it did as Shampoo released her love hold on Ranma and had already pulled out her sword and stalked towards her. "I kill..." Ranma grabbed shampoo by the hand that held the sword and looked at her sternly. "No your not, shampoo we talked about this before..." Shampoo looked distrut since her airen had stopped her. "Ranma she deceive amazon, that is disgrace and so I must kill.." Ranma slowly tighten his grip on her wrist and had an angry expression on his face. "And I told you that it wasn't her fault, now stop trying to kill my sister.." Shampoo's eyes widened as she took in this new face that Ranma had on, he had never looked at her with such anger before and she knew that, that girl was to blame for it.

Cologne had been watching from one of the windows and came hopping out on her stick and blocked shampoo's path from the other girl. Shampoo became outraged that her great grandmother was protecting the girl as well as her loved one. Cologne gave shampoo a stern glare telling her to back down, if she didn't she knew that Ranma would not hold back at hurting shampoo. The girl meant that much to him, and shampoo was on his last nerve. The old amazon monarch put a stop to it by speaking. "Shampoo that's quite enough." Shampoo grumbled as she put her sword away, she could not go against the old amazon that was how the amazon law worked. She hmpfed and crossed her arms walking back into the restaurant. Cologne shook her head and apologized to both Ranma and the girl. "Son in law forgive Shampoo's rudeness, she can be quite stubborn." Ranma had his arms crossed and still looked very ticked off. "I came here to talk some sense into her but now I'm having second thoughts, and yes I know quite well how stubborn she can be.." He recalled the time she was after his girl side for disgracing her in her village, and that it took alot to get her to change her mind and realize the truth. Cologne nodded her head and hopped to the door. "Do not worry son in law Shampoo will come to understand, please come in." She hopped into the restaurant motioning for the two siblings to come in.

Ranka looked at Ranma for a second. "I think I'm going to go.." Ranma didn't let her finish and grabbed her by her hand and dragged her in with him. "If I have to go in so do you.." Ranka had a pissed off expression on her face, but then it disappeared and was replaced with a sad one as she was in her thoughts. She really didn't want to be here, but it was her fault and she needed to be here to apologize and explain things. She couldn't just put it all on Ranma, she'd just have to deal with the consequences. They both sighed as they followed Cologne and took their seats at the designated table. Cologne started hopping towards the back room, but before she went she told them to wait while she talked to shampoo. Ranma rubbed at his head with an annoyed look on his face. "I knew we shouldn't have come here.." Ranka looked down at the table looking out of it. "Well then lets go home then." Ranma gave her a look and had his arms crossed. "Well sure we can go back if you want shampoo to keep trying to kill you.. is that what you want?" Ranka looked over at him with a depressed look on her face. "No of course not.." Ranma took quick notice of how out of it his sister was looking and that weird mood she had been getting into lately, he didn't want to see her go into that dead like state for a day or more again like before. Or for her to start thinking about dying and going on about how she was nothing but a clone, to him she was his sister. He also recalled that whenever she started to slip into her old ways that love seemed to reached her, so he put his arm around her back and patted it gently. "Mom would be really upset if you just let shampoo kill you, you know that right."

Ranka looked up at him with a startled looking face and her eyes were wide. She realized that she was starting to slip, that she was letting her crimes get to her psychically and emotionally. She knew that she would have to set everything right with whomever she had wronged in her uncontrolled state. She also realized just how much Ranma cared for her, that she wasn't a clone at all and had to stop thinking that way whenever her past occurrences surfaced. She smiled and nodded. "I know... but Ranma it wasn't just shampoo and ukyou that I deceived..." She sighed and looked down at the table and gritted her teeth, because she really did not want to see Kodachi or have to apologize to Kuno as well. She had already apologized to Ryouga but he hadn't been listened of course, and he still thought that she cared by doing that worm thing. She rubbed at her head and gave Ranma a distressed look. "I burned kodachi's pictures..." Ranma couldn't help but laugh, all those pictures of him that kodachi had were all gone now. "That's not too bad, that's actually a good thing." Ranka rolled her eyes at him. "She'll just get more, but that's not the point I wronged her and need to ugh apologize to her as well.." Ranma laughed again and whacked her on the back playfully. "Have you lost your mind, we share the same memories and you want to go and apologize to her? She hates my girl side, and no matter what you or I tell her she'll see you as the a cursed pigtailed girl." Ranka sweatdropped and scratched at the back of her neck nervously. "Yeah I know but I should apologize for what I did just the same..even if it was a good thing and I'll probably regret apologizing to her.." She found herself shuddering just from thinking about how that would go. Ranma shook his head and picked up one of the menu's that was laying on the table and thumbed through it while he waited for cologne to return.

Cologne had talked some sense into Shampoo and the two of them came walking up to the table and shampoo took a seat next to Ranma not looking at all pleased. Cologne stayed perched on her stick and started the conversation. "Son in law I've talked some sense into Shampoo, so you can enlighten her with the details." Shampoo nodded and then looked at Ranma. "You come to tell shampoo something yes?" Ranma put the menu down and looked directly at Shampoo. "Yes I did, do you remember a few day's ago that I told you that it was my sister and that it wasn't her fault..and that I'd tell you about it later.. We'll I'm here to do just that." Cologne eyed the girl that Ranma had referred to as his sister. "So son in law she's your sister?" Ranma nodded. "Yes she's my sister Ranka and she was being controlled by the devil before, so shampoo she had no control over what she was doing. It's not just you that she deceived, and if you don't want me to be angry then stop trying to kill Ranka.." Shampoo looked over at Ranma's twin and then back at him. "Shampoo understand, no kill Ranka anymore.." Ranma smiled at her. "Thankyou Shampoo." Shampoo felt her anger melt away as she saw her airen smiling at her, but she still didn't like that girl. She'd let him and her great grandmother hear what they wanted to hear, but she had other plans. She'd make nicey nice with this sister of his for now, but she would still stick to her plan. She looked over at the girl and put on a smile. "Shampoo so sorry she over react, can you forgive?" She extended one of her hands out towards the girl and kept smiling.

Ranka looked nervous and extended hers and both girls shook hands. "Only if you'll forgive me, I'm sorry I did that Shampoo.." Shampoo kept smiling and finally let go of Ranka's hand. "No no is ok I understand, you and Ranma want free ramen is on house." Ranma smiled and nodded. "Of course we do." Ranka gave him a look. "Ranma..what about mom's dinner?" Ranma smacked his forehead. "Oh yeah I keep forgetting, speaking of we really should be going." Shampoo tilted her head and looked at Ranma with puppy dog eyes. "But you just got here, why you want to leave?" Ranka saved Ranma the trouble of telling shampoo that they had to go. "Yes but we can't spoil our appetites before dinner, our mom wouldn't like that if we came home full and didn't eat any of her home cooked meal. That's what he's trying to tell you, so we really do need to be going." Shampoo hmpfed and crossed her arms and got up out of her seat and stalked off to the kitchen. Ranma sweatdropped as he watched her run off in a huff and rubbed at his head. "Sorry but we do need to be going." Colonge nodded understanding full well what Ranma's sister had just told shampoo and would try to explain that to her. "Please stop by again son in law, and you as well Ranka it was nice meeting you." She hopped off into another room and the two siblings got up and made their way out of the restaurant and headed back home.

Ranma and Ranka were half way there when Ranka spotted Nodoka coming down the street on the other end towards them. She panicked and looked around for any water, then she spotted part of the fence that was missing and had a _'Do not cross'_ sign across that area. She also noticed that by the looks of things Ranma hadn't noticed their mom coming towards them, and she knew he'd be mad at her for awhile but he'd understand later. With that she shoved him through the area where the fence was missing and watched him fall down into the water canal below with a loud splash. Ranma surfaced spitting water out of her mouth and looking pissed as hell. "What the hell was that for Ranka!" Ranka looked down at her and whispered. "Mom was coming." Ranma rolled his eyes and pushed her wet bangs out of her face. "Yeah right like I'd believe that.." Nodoka who could only see the shadow's of two figures and saw the one push the other one came running over and as the figure came into sight she gasped and grabbed Ranka by the hand sternly. "Ranka!" Ranka looked startled as her mother came into view and at the current situation she had put herself in. Nodoka looked down into the canal and spotted Ranko looking angry and wet and then she gave Ranka a stern look before letting go of her arm. "Young lady what has gotten into you?"

Ranka rubbed at one of her arms nervously, trying to think of something to say.

It was after seeing her mom's face that Ranma realized that Ranka wasn't lying and that she had just saved his ass and put her self into the frying pan. Ranma tried to think up something fast so that Ranka wouldn't get into trouble for it. While Ranma sat there thinking, Nodoka took her wrapped katana off from her holder on her back and lowered the handle part down towards Ranko and waited for her to grab it and she pulled her up with a smile on her face as she remembered that this was how she had first met Ranko. Nodoka put her sword back into the holder and gave Ranka a stern look once again, but Ranma jumped in to save her. "It was an accident mom I said something kind of rude and she shoved me way not seeing the broken fence. So please don't punish her, it wasn't her fault." She looked at her mom with the girly ish face she could muster and tried not to grit her teeth. Nodoka listened to what Ranko said and then looked over at Ranka who looked miserable. "Ranka is what your sister just said true?" Ranka nodded and blushed playing the embarrassed part quite well, and watched her mother's anger vanish. Nodoka looked back at Ranko and wondered what she had said that made her sister so embarrassed, from what she could tell it must've been quite rude. She really couldn't blame Ranko for it since she had been brought up by Genma and in a bad environment, so she apologized to Ranka and then took both of the girls home.

Back at the house Ranma had another struggle with Nodoka about her bathing with her and finally talked her out of it and locked the door for her own safety. Nodoka rubbed at her chin in deep thought about why Ranko was always so nervous around water, and how she kept finding Ranko in water. Ranka on the other hand had no problem with letting her bathe with her. Today's scene had her quite perplexed as she could of sword that the one figure from faraway looked like a man, and that other time she had heard Ranka arguing with a man and then when she opened the door Ranko was there. She finished stirring the soup while she pondered things about the two girls, she wondered if Ranka knew something but she had a feeling she wouldn't tell her if she was trying to protect her sister from something. Either way she was going to get to the bottom of this one day, but for now she would sit back and observe abit more closely the two girls behavior's. Ranka came walking into the kitchen wearing her chinese pajama's and had her hair up in a ponytail. Nodoka decided to try and ask her and observe her reaction. "Ranka dear is it just me or does your sister not like water?" Ranka tried to keep her cool as the words struck her, she wondered if her mom had found out about the curse. She had never asked her something like this so bluntly, or was it that she slowly starting to notice Ranko's behavior towards taking bath's with other people. Either way she had to try and steer her mother's attention away from seeing that. "No Ranko's just embarrassed I guess." Nodoka took notice of how it had taken awhile for Ranka to respond and that her response did not sound legitimate, it sounded like she had made it up. So she decided to keep playing along and wait for her to eventually slip up. "About what dear? Were all girls here." Ranka found herself getting nervous as she could clearly tell that Nodoka was not buying her excuse, and tried to make a better one. She recalled that Ranma had told his mother that Ranko had been raised by Genma, so she could say something that related to that without making it sound suspicious. "Well Ranko's used to bathing with guys I'm guessing, since she lived with one.. But I really don't know since I was living with my parents and not with her." Nodoka found that some of what Ranka said made some sense, she decided to test this theory in the near future with a trip to the bathhouse. "I see well we'll have to try and change that, it's just not right." She shook her head and started to put the food out on the table, Ranka started helping putting stuff on the table as well happy that Nodoka had stopped with the questions.

Ranko eventually came into the kitchen with her hair combed out and wet hanging down her shoulders, and she had her fishcake pajama's on as she took her seat at the table and started helping herself to the food. Nodoka took note of how manly Ranko's actions were, especially in how she ate her food. She had improved a great deal but she still had a long way to go, and she would have to break her of her poor habits that her husband had taught the girl. She sighed as she found herself thinking about her son Ranma, and wondered if her husband had raised him the same way as Ranko. Ranka looked up from her plate and at her mother noticing that far off look in her eyes and her sighing. "Mom you ok? You haven't eaten anything yet." Nodoka blinked and looked over at Ranka and started to make a plate for herself. "I'm sorry my dear I was just thinking of my son Ranma." Ranko gagged on what she had in her mouth and started coughing, and grabbed her glass of water and gulped down a good amount of water nervously. Ranka gave Ranma a quick look and then focused on Nodoka. "Oh I see." She went back to eating her food at a steady pace and glanced over at Ranko for a second. Nodoka looked over at Ranko. "Ranko are you alright? You need to eat your food at a slower pace, your just like my son like that.." Ranma felt herself getting extremely nervous and wanted to leave the room immediately, but she knew better then to do that. Then she remembered the soul of ice technique that she had used before and what she had told her mother about her and she started to relax. "I know I can't help it that's how uncle Genma raised me, he raised me just like Ranma." Nodoka stabbed her fork into the meat on her plate angrily and kept stabbing at it. "I'm sure he did..." Ranma decided that she had said enough and went back to eating the rest of her meal.

After dinner and everyone helped with the clean up they all sat in the living room and watched a movie before they went to bed. Nodoka had felt happier since she atleast had the two girls and in a way she felt that by having Ranko with her that she still had Ranma with her as well. After the movie she hugged both the girls and said goodnight to them before she retired to her own room, while they went off to their room after they had both finished getting ready for bed. Ranka laid down with her head on the pillow and closed her eyes as she snuggled up into her blankets. Ranma turned off the light and laid down as well and closed her eyes. "Ranka I'm sorry I didn't believe you before about well you know.." Ranka listening to her sisters sincere apology and smiled with her eyes still closed and a smile on her face. "Yeah well next time you'd better believe me, I wouldn't shove you in for no reason. You though you need to be more careful she's starting to catch on.." She was wise enough to whisper all of what she was saying in case Nodoka was listening in, since her room was right next door to theirs. Ranma rubbed at the back of her head for a minute before putting her arm back under the covers. "Yeah..but it's ok, just read my mind and you'll know what I'm talking about." She yawned and rolled over. "Goodnight Ranka." She pulled the covers up over her head and concentrated on sleeping. Ranka nodded and said goodnight to Ranma before rolling over and thumbed through Ranma's mind to found out what her sister was talking about, before she fell asleep.

Unknown to them they hadn't noticed that Shampoo had followed them back to Nodoka's and had been hiding out in backyard behind some bushes. She had watched the light in what she thought was Ranka's room go off and sprinted up onto the roof quietly and slid the window that was opened slightly, slowly so that she had enough room to get into the room. The only light that was in the room was from the moonlight shining in through the window, which Shampoo used to her full advantage as she crept into the room through the window sure of herself that she hadn't made any noise. She stood still for a minute and waited to see if the girl had heard her come in, she didn't notice that Ranma was there since she under her blankets. She concentrated on the sleeping girl that she stood before, and slowly unsheathed her sword and raised it into the air aiming it at the girls head as she brought it down swiftly. Ranka unconsciously dodged the blade rolling over just in the nick of time and the sword caught the floor with a soft thud, Shampoo gritted her teeth and yanked the sword's tip out of the floor and started to raise her sword up into the air again taking aim once again. She started to bring the sword back down again, till she heard the door to the room slid open quietly and a she couldn't see what had dashed into the room as her blade headed towards the girl's head. Shampoo yelped as she heard her blade clash with another blade out of the blue and then she saw a woman's face through the moonlight gripping a katana tightly that was locked with her own sword. Shampoo tried to keep a tight grip on her sword's handle but this woman that had suddenly appeared so fast and quietly was much more experienced with the sword and stronger it seemed. Nodoka glared at the strange purple haired girl that stood in front of her locked in a sword battle, she wanted to know why this girl dared to raise a sword against her daughter Ranka. Shampoo finally lost her grip and Nodoka's sword smacked it out of her hands and down onto the ground, which made shampoo fall back thudding against the wall. Nodoka pointed her katana's blade at the purple haired girl's neck and she whispered in a low and angry voice. "Leave my daughter alone.."

The noise that shampoo made had woken Ranma up, and her head popped out from the blankets as she looked around half awake and spotted what looked like shampoo against the wall and her mother standing near Ranka with her katana pointed at shampoo. She rubbed her eyes to see if she was dreaming and when she opened them again she saw the same thing and realized that this wasn't a dream. Shampoo spotted girl Ranma and cried out to her. "Ranma!" Nodoka who still had her katana pointed at the girl, looked over to see Ranko awake and wondered what this purple haired girl had meant. She remembered what Ranko had told her that she acted and looked like Ranma because she was raised by Genma and had been with Ranma for some time, so this strange girl was confused but it seemed that she knew her son Ranma. "No that's my daughter Ranko you confuse her with her brother Ranma..now tell me why you tried to hurt my other daughter Ranka before I hurt you.."

Ranma started to panic since she hadn't told Shampoo about staying with her mother as Ranko and gave Shampoo a pleading look. "No I'm Ranko his sister." Then she gave shampoo a hard glare since she had gone back on her word and lied about forgiving Ranka. Nodoka eyed Ranko with her katana still pointed at the other girls neck. "Ranko do you know this girl?"

Ranma rubbed at her head and nodded. "She's a friend of Ranma's.." That still didn't change Nodoka's mind about lifting her blade from the girl's neck till she knew that she wasn't going to attack Ranka. "Ranko do you know why this girl is trying to hurt your sister." She glared directly at the girl she had pinned against the wall. Ranma really had no choice but to tell her mother the truth. "Well remember how I told you Ranka had done bad things because our father was controlling her?" But she couldn't tell her the truth because it would expose her curse, she hoped that shampoo would keep her mouth shut about it. "and I told her that and she said she had forgiven Ranka and then she does this..." She gave shampoo a hard cold stare to let her know that she was in some hot water.

Nodoka nodded remembered that Ranka had done bad things, but this girl was wrong for going back on her word and still trying to kill her daughter after she had apologized for whatever she had done to her. "Listen and listen well whoever you are, if you try to harm my daughter Ranka again I'll kill you...now get of my sight and never come here again.." She took her katana away from the girls neck but still gripped onto the handle tightly. Shampoo's eye's started to tear up and she glared at Ranka's sleeping face and tightened her fist. That girl had turned Ranma against her, she was nothing but trouble in her eyes. Nodoka took quick notice of the girl's anger and raised her katana back at her neck and glared at her sternly. "Did you not hear me, I told you not to harm my daughter!" Nodoka hadn't realized how high she had raised her voice and that she had woken Ranka up. Ranka looked around groggily till she spotted shampoo and her eyes shot open wide awake as she spotted her mother standing above her with her katana pointed at shampoo.

The thoughts that ran through Ranka's head were upset ones, that Shampoo had lied about forgiving her and tracked her down to her mothers house and tried to kill her in her sleep. Not only that but now she had upset her mother greatly, she had her head down and she tightened her own fist and glared at shampoo. "What do you want from me I apologized to you, and you go and do this.." Nodoka noticed that she had woken up Ranka and felt bad, she also felt bad because so many bad things had happened to her and it seemed that they still were. "Ranka.." Ranma smacked her forehead feeling very frustrated and that shampoo kept looking at her with a frightened expression that said 'save me ranma.' At this point ranma just wanted to wash her hands of the back stabbing amazon, but if she let her mother go on eventually shampoo's great grandmother would find out and then mousse would find out. So she decided that she had to save shampoo's ass from her mother. "Mom let me talk to her..she doesn't understand.." Nodoka took her katana away from shampoo's neck again and lowered it, then she sheathed it and held it one of her hands. "Fine but Ranka's staying with me until I know that, that girl won't harm her." She grabbed Ranka by the hand and helped her up leading her out of the room, leaving Ranma alone with Shampoo who started crying.

Shampoo glomped onto girl Ranma and buried her face into her chest, making Ranma blush furiously. "Er um ah shampoo I'm still mad.." Shampoo kept crying with her face planted in Ranma-chan's boobs, and hugged onto her tightly. Ranma was trying very hard not to let the fact that she had Shampoo's face in her boobs and tried to push her off but she was too nervous. Shampoo finally lifted her face out and off from the other girls chest and wiped at the tears on her face trying to compose herself. Ranma sighed and felt her face getting less hot since shampoo wasn't touching her anymore. "Shampoo if you hadn't broke in and attacked my sister my mom wouldn't have attacked you..." Shampoo looked at Ranma with a mixture of a sad and angry face. "That scary woman is your mother? You let that girl lead you around, she is evil girl.."

Ranma grumbled and smacked her hand to her forehead and gave shampoo a glare. "Listen Ranka isn't evil anymore, she's my sister and if you want me as a friend you can't keep trying to kill her.. it makes me hate you.." She looked away from shampoo elsewhere with her arms crossed. "You'd understand if you had another you.." Shampoo crawled over towards Ranma looking sad. "Shampoo kill other shampoo if there was one, can only be one shampoo." Ranma sighed and looked over at her somewhat. "Ok how about this..if there were two shampoo's, you could tell the other you to like mousse and then you could have whoever." Shampoo rubbed at her chin thoughtfully, and she smiled. "So Ranma tell other Ranma to like Akane, so that you can love only shampoo! Aiya airen I so happy." She tackled Ranma and glomped onto her rubbing against her. Ranma grumbled and slammed one of her fists down onto the floor. "No! I just gave you an example of how if you had another you..it's different with me and Ranka ok.. Jeez I think I like ukyou more atleast her and Ranka made up and are friends now." She gave shampoo a bored look.

Shampoo felt the anger boiling up inside, as usual Ukyou was one step ahead of her in the love game. Then an idea popped up into her head suddenly and she smirked for only a second, she would give up on killing the girl but for a price. She looked up at Ranma with loving eyes. "Shampoo make deal with Ranma then." The smirk appeared across her face again. Ranma sweatdropped and gave her a look. "What kind of deal?" Shampoo giggled somewhat and crept closer to Ranma. "Shampoo give up on killing Ranka, if Ranma go on date with Shampoo and I get to choose time, day etc. Also just me and Ranma no one else. Is deal? Or you want shampoo to keep chasing after Ranka."

Ranma tightened her fist and had her head down, it figured that shampoo would stoop so low. Ranma sighed and ran one her fingers through her hair somewhat, she knew Shampoo wouldn't give up unless she gave in to her demands. But what bothered Ranma was the fact that Shampoo couldn't be trusted, she herself smirked as an idea hit her. She looked over at shampoo with the smirk on her face. "Fine but if you break the deal after I've gone on the date with you, well...I'll want nothing to do with you ever again." Shampoo's eyes went wide as she felt her heart beating fiercely as she caught the evil smirk Ranma had sported, even she knew that Ranma was totally serious and that she would loose her airen forever if she didn't keep her side of the deal. Shampoo sighed, but she was quite happy that she would be going on a date with Ranma atleast. Giving up on killing the girl was a small price to pay if she could have time alone with Ranma. "Is deal." She pressed her breasts up against Ranma's backside an d wrapped her arms around the frontside of Ranma. Ranma found herself getting very hot and her face was bright red again. "Um er Shampoo you should go home now.." Shampoo pressed further earning a small yelp from Ranma and she smirked and put on a sad face. "But Shampoo too scared because scary woman will get her.." Ranma sweatdropped and sighed knowing that she would have to let the amazon have her way again. "Fine..I'll go get another bed.." Shampoo pressed her boobs further till they were squishing hard into Ranma's backside and she put on a sad face with puppy dog eyes. "No leave shampoo I scared..we can share bed yes." Ranma gulped and tried not to think about shampoo's body pressed up against her backside and not to back down. "I'll go get that bed." She unlatched shampoo's hands from around her and got up making shampoo fall down, she went outside the room and fetched another bed set and plopped it down faraway from her own. "There now go to bed Shampoo." Then she flopped back down into her own futon and pulled the covers up over her head grumbling. Shampoo pouted and set up the bedding and laid down and closed her eyes with a smile on her face.

Ranka woke up and pushed herself up out of bed yawning and stretching, she looked around half awake and noticed that she was in her mother's room. But Nodoka had already gotten up and put her bedding away, and was downstairs preparing breakfast. Ranka rubbed at her head wondering why she was in here, then she snapped her fingers remembering the sudden attack on her last night and that her mother had fought shampoo. She frowned at that thought, that shampoo had snuck into the house to sneak attack her, _"How low could she get."_ She thought as she walked out of her mothers room and into hers to go get changed, she froze up at what she saw as she walked into the room. There in Ranma's bed was shampoo cuddled up against her sleeping with a smile on her face. Ranka found her anger rising, she wasn't mad at Ranma, she was mad at Shampoo. She walked over and grabbed her pillow from the floor and went over to where Ranma was and smacked the pillow down on her face. "Wake up lovebirds.." She finished grabbing her things and rushed out of the room

Ranma grumbled and yanked the pillow off her face and tossed it at the wall. "What the hell is wrong with you.." She stopped as she looked over to see Shampoo sleeping snuggled up against her and figured out why Ranka had woken her up. Shampoo yawned and rubbed at her eyes as she started waking up and smiled at seeing Ranma when she opened them. "Good morning airen." Ranma gave her a stern glare and pointed at the other futon. "Didn't I tell you to sleep there.." Shampoo giggled and snuggled up against her. "Shampoo walks around in her sleep sometimes." Ranma groaned and got up out of bed. "Shampoo you need to go now..unless you want my mom to catch you here.." Shampoo's eyes went wide and she jumped up out of the bed and was already at the window. "No of course not, no want to make Ranma's mom upset. But Ranma you stop by Nekohanten after school and we have date yes?" Ranma rolled her eyes and rubbed at her head. "Yes as long as you keep your part of the deal." Shampoo smiled. "Yes shampoo well, but if you no show then deal is off." She vanished out the window after that, and Ranma went over to the window closing it and locking it. "Just great..what have I gotten myself into.." She sighed and grabbed the furikan high uniform tossing off her night clothes and changing into it, then she fixed her hair while she grabbed her bookbag which had her change of clothes within. Everyday she had to leave the house as Ranko dressed up in the furikan high uniform and then she'd stop at doctor tofu's clinic and change her clothes and become Ranma once again. She sighed as she left the room and headed down the stairs, she had a gut feeling that one day her mother would catch on to the game.

After they had both finished eating the nicely prepared breakfast that Nodoka had made, they said their daily fair wells and left the house and made it to Doctor Tofu's and then to school. Ranka and Ranma walked through the gates of Furikan as usual and the boys starring at her from afar. Akane stood at the front of the school with her arms crossed waiting for Ranma. Ranka looked at Akane and then back at her brother. "You know you'll have to handle this right? I helped you out yesterday but the result is still the same." Ranma nodded and sighed. "Yeah I know you did, I'll see you in class then since I have to put the flames out." Ranka giggled and nodded and walked off ahead of him and walked by akane. She shortly spotted Ukyou walking down the hallway towards the classroom and waved at her and ran over to catch up to her and they both smiled at each other and started chatting as they walked to class taking their time. Ranma rubbed at his head as he came to a stop with akane facing him. Akane gave Ranma a hard cold stare before speaking. "So where were you yesterday that was so much more important then explaining to me what's going on.." Ranma was still rubbing at his head and trying to think of something to say, then he came up with something. Shampoo owed him after what she had put him through and better her then Ukyou. "Well shampoo came and snatched me away to the Nekohanten, she wanted me to try some new ramen they made and wouldn't take no for an answer. I was waiting for you till she came along.." Flames danced around Akane which only people who could see battle aurora's would be able to see, and unfortunately for Ranma he was able to see them. Akane had her fists tightened and her teeth clenched. "Shampoo..." Ranma laughed nervously and waved his hands around trying to calm Akane down. "Now calm down akane, I'll explain what's going on like I said. The reason why I suddenly left the Tendo dojo and didn't come back is because my mom thought i was my sister for awhile, but then I told her a half truth and the lie of me being Ranko was still there. After I told my mom about Ranka and Ranko's dad being a demon well..that's when she told me straight that I had to stay with her.. So it's kind of hard for me to get out of this situation Akane, whether or not you understand it's what I have to do for now.."

Akane's anger melted away somewhat as she got her explanation that she had asked for. She still wanted Ranma to come back to the Tendo Dojo of course, but the situation he was in was too dangerous for her selfish needs. She sighed and uncrossed her arms looking up at Ranma with a sad face. "If you just told your mother the truth then it wouldn't have to be like this. What do you do every morning? Pretend to go to school as a girl and then go and change into a guy?" Ranma grumbled at how on to him she was, that and she was telling him to kill himself basically. "You know I can't do that, and what I do and how I do it is my business. I'll do what I have to, atleast Ranka understands that." He looked away from Akane before he started to bash talk her.

Akane was ready to comment with an angry reply but she yelped as she saw kuno racing towards her with his arms outstretched. "My lovely Akane Tendo admitting your true feelings for me yesterday was a day that I shall never forget. The gods themselves are jealous of how happy I am, but fear not I will not let them have their way!" He laughed as he sped towards Akane at full speed, she in turn before finishing her argument with Ranma made a mad dash as faraway from the area that kuno was in. Kuno skidded to a stop and leaped off in the direction Akane had. "My love you cannot deny your true feelings any longer." Ranma smiled and thanked Ranka in his mind for getting him out of that jam, and walked off towards the classroom quite happy.

Ranka entered the classroom with Ukyou and they both took their seats, shortly after Ranma came in and took his own seat. Akane showed up right before the bell rang looking exhausted as she plopped down into her own seat, her two friends questioned her about what had happened. The teacher meanwhile cleared his throat as the bell rang. "Class we have a new student joining us today." A girl with pink hair came walking into the classroom with a smile on her face as she waved to all the students and stepped up onto the platform next to the teacher. "Hello everybody it's nice to meet you, my name is Thrishta Starling." She giggled cutely and wrote her name on the board as instructed, then the teacher pointed out a seat for her. Ranma and Ranka's eyes went wide as they noticed that this girl looked familiar, she had been at Ranka's old school Asadaiba. Ranka's heart started thumping as the pink haired girl walked down the aisle wearing the same uniform that she was and took her seat near Ranma smiling. This wasn't a mere coincidence that this girl had come here, the possible conclusion that Ranka had come to that this girl might be a spy sent by Satan. She looked uneasy at that very moment, or this girl could even be Ivory or even her old guardian Alley in disguise. She would have to observe this girl for the time being to see if she was an actual threat, her red gem necklace caught onto her uneasiness and dimly lit up, flashing on and off for a minute or so before it stopped. Ranma looked over at the girl as well, remembering that she had been in the same class as Ranko back at Asadaiba and that they had been friendly towards one another. But then he remembered when they had met 2 days ago that he had slipped and said his name was ranma at first, but caught himself and said Ranko. This made him nervous that Thrishta might have caught on to his slip up, that and she had been around the incident that Ranka had been involved with at the other school. He also didn't know if the girl would start telling everyone about that incident and cause problems for Ranka. Both siblings were thinking along the same lines as the teacher started his lecture on the edo period, Thrishta just smiled and acted the same as she had before, but she had so much planned.

I do not own Ranma ½ or any of it's characters, the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi does, and Kitty, Shogukan, and Viz video and anyone else I forgot.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: It's on!

Meanwhile down in the deep dark pits of hell, Satan sat on his throne rubbing at his wound from his battle with Nodoka. It had taken a long time to heal meaning the sword must've had some sort of holyness on it. Alley sat on one side of his throne tending to the wound, while Ivory sat on the other side discussing their plans. "Did you see master? I broke her with that last one." She snickered to herself and laid her head on his arm. Satan reached out with one of his hands and patted her on the head and looked into her eyes. "So you know what you need to do next.." Ivory nodded and smiled at him lovingly. "Go to Furikan High school and tell everyone why she had to leave Asadaiba." Satan smirked and looked over at Alley who was growling with jealous rage. "Calm yourself Alley, or do I have to punish you.." Alley hmpfed and got up out of her seat and walked off to go do some chores, anything to get away from that little wench called Ivory.

Back at Furikan the lunch bell had rang, and the students pulled out their lunches or went to buy some. Ranma came back in with his usual breads and he also had the bento box that his mother had prepared for him. Ranka was having lunch with Ukyou today which disappointed Ranma's two friends. Thrishta smiled at Ranma and then she sat down with a bunch of random girls that had been fussing over her. Time went by and after Ranka had finished her lunch she left Ukyou and went over to Thrishta and whispered something into her ear. Ranma watched as Thrishta had an odd expression on her face but she left the group and followed after Ranka.

Ranka had led Thrishta out of the school near one of the tree's near the front of the school and she crossed her arms. "Tell me who you are.." Her red gem lit up brightly re enforcing what it's master had just said. Thrishta blinked and found herself getting nervous, she didn't want to reveal herself just yet but Ranka was on to her it seemed. "Well I'm not Ivory, you can check if you want.." Ranka gave her a look. "Then why are you always around when bad things go down? Why did you follow me here to Furikan as well.."

Thrishta had her head down and her eyes closed. "I'm sorry I never meant to upset you, you see were kind of the same you and me."

Ranka blinked and shook her head. "How so?" Thrishta opened up her eyes. "One of my parents work's for Satan, they asked me to keep an eye on you. You see I'm part demon, but I just tried to help you against Ivory..although sometimes it didn't go as I planned..and this wasn't planned." She looked up at the sky and then back at Ranka. "I'm sorry if I caused you any problems.."

Ranka's gem stopped glowing and she uncrossed her arms. Thrishta looked at Ranka with a sad face. "I was kind of hoping that we could be friends..."

Ranka smiled somewhat and let her guard down somewhat. "Your not going to backstab me are you?" Thristha shook her head. "No I have no intention, and don't worry I'm not going to tell anyone about the incident at our other school." Ranka felt relieved to be hearing that horrible occurrence was behind her and no one else would find out about it hopefully. She had a feeling that Ivory would be coming to ruin her reputation at this school as well.

Thrishta twiddled her fingers nervously and looked up into Ranka's eye's with a sincere look. "How about we get to know each other more this Sunday, and if you don't trust me you can kill me right on the spot."

Ranka had her arms crossed and had her eyes closed and her head looking down somewhat as she thought about the girl's request for a moment. Ivory hadn't invited her out anywhere she just followed after her and plotted on the spot. So she decided to give Thrishta a chance, and if she broke that chance then she would indeed have to kill her. She tightened her fist as she noticed her own thoughts and that they were returning to her original thoughts the first day she had attended Asadaiba and killed those two girls without remorse. She shook her head and opened her eyes slowly, 'No she wasn't exactly like she was in the beginning she would only kill if she had to. Things going on as they were she knew that she'd end up killing this new Ivory, and she would of course kill anyone who threatened the well being of her family. This part of her reawakened shortly after her inner self had confronted her in her dreams and that had been about 2 days ago. "Alright sunday it is, you decide on the time and place and leave the note in my shoe locker." She departed from the area shortly after leaving Thrishta to think about the conversation and consequence's.

After lunch had passed and the next class had begun which was cooking class, Ranka and Ukyou were chatting together while they looked over the recipe. Ukyou had gathered together all the bowls and cooking utensils and Ranka the ingredients. Ukyou started measuring out the amounts of oil,water and eggs needed while she got up the initiative to ask Ranka about sleeping over. "So today's Friday huh, I was just wondering if maybe we could have a sleepover this weekend?" Ranka finished whisking the mix together and wiped her hands on her apron. "Yeah it'll be fun, I just have to run it by my mom but I think it'll be alright. So if you get a call from me it's off, otherwise come by tomorrow afternoon." Ukyou finished up by pouring the batter into two pan's and putting them into the oven and setting the timer with a smile on her face. "So Ranma won't mind?" Ranka finished writing the directions to the house on the piece of notebook paper she had gotten from her bookbag and handed it to Ukyou. "Nah he knows you and it's not an everyday thing sleepover's that is." She muttered something under her breath about Shampoo, but Ukyou didn't catch it because she was oblivious in her happy state. She held the piece of paper to her chest tightly and giggled lightly. Ranka leaned against the counter and looked over at the other girls and there partners. She caught sight of Akane and her partner who was crying and the teacher was putting the fire from the oven out. Ranka rolled her eyes and laughed somewhat just thinking about it. "So who are you going to give your cake to?" Ukyou blushed and put her hands to her face. "Well i'm sure you already know the answer to that one.." Ranka nodded with a smug look on her face. "I do, but you also know that Akane will try to do the same."

Ukyou grimaced and shook her head. "Well I'll just have to get mine to Ranma first that's all." She had a determined look on her face.

Ranka smirked somewhat and smiled at Ukyou. _'Oh don't worry about that I have no intention of letting Akane get closer to Ranma.' _She thought silently to herself and put one of her hands to where her necklace rested beneath her shirt. No Akane would not be making Ranma sick anytime today, she was going to see to that.

After the timer had gone off and the cake had cooled off for awhile, Ukyou started to frost her's since she was in a hurry. Ranka on the other hand wasn't in a hurry as she had her own agenda. She glanced over at Akane to see how far she had progressed, while she waited for her own cake to cool down. So far Ukyou was ahead of the game, and Akane was far behind since she was waiting for her own cake to finish baking and her partner was also abit behind on her own but further then Akane was. The other students who had finished their's were allowed to leave the class, the girls held onto their small cakes tightly and rushed off to taunt the boys the liked with the sweet confection.

Ranka watched and listened to the girls talking amongst themselves and she found herself blushing while she started frosting her own cake. But what boy was she going to taunt with her cake, she couldn't taunt Ranma that was Ukyou's job. While she thought about this she was still keeping watch on Akane, the other thought that crossed her mind that was Kuno would try to get her to give him the cake. She gagged for a moment after seeing the scene in her mind, then she remembered that she hadn't apologized to Ryouga for the whole worm thing. She wasn't too fond of him after the shower incident though..but he had apologized. She sighed and made up her mind that she would try not to slam the cake into his face and to give it to him properly to make up for the wrong she had done to him in her controlled state of mind.

Ukyou snapped her out of her thoughts with gentle nudge with her elbow. "Hey Ranka I'm going now wish me luck, and I wish you luck as well. Tell me who you gave it to on Saturday ok." She smiled and held onto her covered cake tightly and made her way out of the room. Akane noticed Ukyou leaving the room and started frosting her cake which had not cooled off completely. Ranka finished frosting her's and decorated it somewhat before covering it up with the plastic cover and getting her bookbag together, she didn't need to clean up since Ukyou had done that for her. She smirked and looked over at Akane and down at her shoes and her red gem necklace listened to it's master's command and lit up somewhat. Ranka smiled contently and left the room through the back door since she knew Kuno would be out in the hallway, but she'd let Akane deal with him. No one noticed the faint red glow underneath the ground where Akane stood, and stand she would in the same spot for about 10 minute's more like the spell said. Ranka didn't want to make it too obvious that something was up, but she had given Ukyou more then enough time.

She walked around till she came to the facquets near the field and set her cake down onto the ground and bent down to get a drink of water since she was feeling thirsty. After quenching her thirst she turned off the facquet and started to pick her cake up, when who should appear out of nowhere but Ryouga.. She quickly picked up the cake nervously and knew her face was probably red by now. Ryouga had randomly been wandering around since the fight between Ivory and Ranka back at Asadaiba and had somehow ended up at Furikan without knowing it. He snapped out of his dazed state as he saw the redhead looking at him, he noted she was wearing the same uniform and concluded that it was Ranka and that he was still at Asadaiba and he found himself laughing nervously. "Um most be a coincidence that I ended up back here." Ranka blinked and gave him a look. "Your at Furikan not Asadaiba if you were wondering.." Ryouga had a confused look on his face as he looked behind him and noticed the furikan field and then looked back at Ranka. "Why are you at Furikan?" Ranka looked away somewhat. "I ended up transferring here, but I like my uniform better.." Ryouga rubbed at the back of his head nervously realizing that he had thought it was Asadaiba indeed because of the uniform she was wearing, but it all made sense now. Ranka's face was still red and she shuffled her feet about nervously, she just had to get this over with and then she wouldn't owe him. "I'm um sorry for the worms..here.." She handed him the plastic cover with the cake in it and stepped back some to make some distance between them. Ryouga took the cake and looked at the plastic object he held looking confused. Ranka gave him annoyed look. "So open it.." Ryouga fumbled around with it for awhile before he figured out it was a cover and it lifted off easily, but what was underneath it was so beautiful and smelled very good. His eyes got all teary and big and he just stood there holding the cake in bliss. Ranka sweatdropped and had her arms crossed. "It's a cake you eat it.."

Ryouga looked around and then back at the cake, Ranka groaned and grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him towards the woods where it was deserted and went through her bookbag and yanked out her bento box and the utensil set that went along with it. She held out the fork towards Ryouga. "Here..you were looking for a utensil right.." She would've walked off after that but she like any other girl wanted know what the other person thought of her homecooking.

Ryouga nodded and took the fork nervously and went into one of his moments _'Aaah Ranka's fork!' _Then he cut off a piece with the fork and popped it into his mouth, tears of joy ran from his eyes and he laughed nervously, this was the most delicious thing he had ever had in his life. The other times he had lied to Akane about her cooking and beared the horrible taste and told her how good it was to make her feel good, but with this cake that Ranka had made he didn't have to lie about it being good.

Ranka eyed him suspiciously and had her arms behind her back in a shy position. "Well is it good or not?" Ryouga looked at her and nodded happily. "It's the most delicious thing I've had in my entire life, I'm so happy." He cried happily to himself and had another piece of the cake.

Ranka blushed bright red and smiled softly for a second before picking her bag up from the ground. "You can keep the utensil." She ran off while Ryouga was engrossed in happiness and kept running for awhile till she slowed down and remembering she had to go get the note from her shoe box, even though she never changed her boots only for gym class. She made her way to where the shoe lockers were and opened hers and took the envelope that was in there and stuck it into her bag and closed the locker door.

Ranma waited by Doctor Tofu's clinic and grabbed Ranka by one of her arms as she came walking by. "Where'd you go off to?" Ranka gave him an annoyed look and took her arm out from his hold. "Jeez I'm not allowed to go off on my own for awhile?" Ranma had his arms crossed. "Not when you don't tell me.." Ranka realized that he had been worrying about her and understood why he was acting this way. "Sorry it's just I didn't want to run into Kuno after home ec..." She decided not to say anything about the cake and Ryouga since it would get ugly. Ranma nodded in understandment as well and laughed somewhat. "Yeah I can understand why you went out of your way to avoid him, I was lucky Ukyou gave me her cake before Akane gave me her's." He rubbed at his stomach for a moment. "As usual Akane was angry at me and she was going on about crap."

Ranka smiled at the mention of Ukyou's cake. "Ooh yes you are, oh you know how Akane is." She smirked and giggled quietly. Ranma had a disgusted looking expression on his face for awhile before it turned into a smug one. "So who'd you give your cake to?" Ranka sweatdropped and tried not to blush since she'd give herself away. "I ate it with Ukyou." Ranma smiled and had his hands behind his back. "Uhuh I see, we'll I'll be back." He walked off towards the back of the clinic disappearing into the building for awhile.

After turning back into a girl and changing into the furikan uniform she and Ranka walked off towards the house. Ranka also decided not to tell Ranma about the sleepover till Saturday moments before Ukyou came or when she came so he had no way out. Ranma was about to hop up onto her favorite fence till she and Ranka heard Kuno's voice. "Oh if it isn't the two twin goddesses how I've longed for you as well Pigtailed girl!" Ranma groaned and Ranka grumbled. Kuno was in mere seconds hugging Ranma in the usual manner. "Oh pigtailed girl how I have missed you." Just when Ranma was ready to punch him, Kuno moved on to Ranka and then squeezed both of them into an embrace. "Do not be shy my twin goddesses I will eat your cake's full of love and shower you with praise!" Ranka gritted her teeth and slammed the sharpest part of her boot down onto Kuno's foot making him release his grip on them, Ranma slammed her fist into his face knocking him out onto the ground. "Not in this lifetime you perverted jerk!" She grabbed Ranka's hand and the both of them took off like a bat out of hell.

After getting home Ranma quickly changed out of the furikan girl's uniform and into a casual t-shirt and short's outfit and was laying down on the floor in the living room by the tv, munching on some rice crackers and clicking through the channels looking annoyed. Ranka came into the room wearing a pink sundress with random designs and holding two glasses of ice tea in each of her hands as she handed one to Ranma and then went and sat down near the table. "Looks like mom's not home." Ranma settled on a channel and tossed the clicker aside. "She's probably out shopping or something." She picked up the glass of ice tea and sipped some of it. Ranka looked over at her sister somewhat with a bored looking expression on her face. "Maybe..or she's off plotting with that Kalu about which one of us should get married to Kuno.."

Ranma spit out some of the tea and started coughing, and pounded at her chest finally catching her breath. "Oh god no..you don't think she'd do that do you?"

Ranka played with some of her hair with a solemn expression. "You saw it, how Kalu is easily able to get mom to agree with her on things. The two of them are very close friends, so I course she'll want one of us to marry off to kuno.."

Ranma looked like she was going to be sick for a moment atleast. She snapped her fingers as she had a thought. "We'll just work just as hard to convince mom that he's not suitable type, we'll show her all the bad qualities that Kuno has to offer."

Ranka and Ranma both smirked at each other and started laughing, atleast for awhile until Nodoka came in through the front door. She had heard the two of them laughing from the front door and wondered what was so funny. "Hello girl's what's so funny? I could hear you from the front door."

Ranka smiled at her and already had a backup explanation. "Oh this girl at school in my home economic's class today she made the weirdest shaped cake and I was just telling Ranko about it."

Nodoka wasn't too pleased with the fact that Ranka was poking fun at others, and had to set her daughter straight. "Now Ranka that's no way for you to behave making fun of another's hard work, you wouldn't like it if your were in that person's shoe's now would you? So that's enough of laughing at other people's mistake's." Ranka bit her tongue since she knew better then to try to talk back to Nodoka about this sort of thing, she instead bowed her head and put the puppy dog eye's on. "I'm sorry mother." Nodoka smiled and walked over to where Ranka was and sat down next to her and patted her shoulder lightly. "That's my girl, now I have some exciting news girls."

Ranka picked up her glass of tea and sipped some of it, she needed something cool since she had a feeling this new's was about Kuno. Ranma gulped and watched her mother's lips moving in slow motion and she shuddered as the words came out. "We've been all been invited to the Kuno's Mansion next weekend."

Ranma couldn't stand the thought and protested outright regardless of being scolded, but tried to keep it inconspicuous. "Sorry but I've got plans next weekend mom." Ranka looked over at Ranma for a second and then back to where she was looking and took another sip of her tea, unlike Ranma she wasn't going to have an outburst over this, but it didn't mean that she wanted to go or go alone either. So instead of following her sister's example she went about protesting with a different approach. "Mother I'm sure that Kuno is already spoken for and Kalu doesn't know this, and besides there's many other more suitable mean out there that you would pick over him."

Nodoka looked at both of the girls with a disappointment look on her face, she of course was onto Ranko immediately from her sudden outburst against going, and she could also tell Ranka was doing the same but in a different manner. She got up from where she had been sitting next to Ranka and gave both of them a stern look. "We have been invited and we will all be attending next weekend, your plans will have to wait." She left the room looking quite upset and went off into the kitchen to prepare dinner and take her mind off of her daughter's rudeness.

Later on after having a silent dinner, and a silent cleanup, Nodoka had gone off to her room as well as the two siblings. Ranma and Ranka were playing a game of cards together, while they discussed what to do about going to the Kuno's next weekend. Ranma tossed down some pairs looked annoyed. "Seems like were stuck going.." Ranka looked through her cards and put a pair down as well. "Yeah if we run off it'll really hurt and upset her... But really neither one of us want's to go, but she won't listen since it's about her best friend Kalu. We'll just have to go through with the plan of showing mom how he's not suitable, and if we need to do some tricks to achieve results then we will."

Ranma nodded in reply and grumbled and took another card from the deck. "When she said next weekend I hope she doesn't mean it as in us staying over there for the whole weekend.." She shuddered just thinking about having to stay in the same house as kuno. Ranka coughed some before putting down two pairs. "Oh god I hope not, I don't want to go at all.. kodachi's going to be on my case as well as your's. Going on about two wicked girls." Ranma tossed her cards down and put her hands to her head and ruffled up her hair in annoyance. "Arghhh just thinking about the whole thing makes me mad, I've lost my concentration on this game now.." Ranka shrugged her shoulders and started gathering up all the cards. "I understand let's call it quits for tonight." She finished gathering them and started stacking them into a deck and put them back into the box and tossing the box to the other side of the room. Ranma got up from where she had been sitting and went over to the closet and pulled out a random manga, then made her way back to her futon and flopped down on it and started reading.

Ranka got up from her sitting spot and stretched abit, before leaving the room, after closing the door behind her and heading towards Nodoka's room. She was mainly going to ask about Ukyou sleeping over tomorrow, but she would also try to get her mother into a better mood. She knocked on her mother's door timidly and waited till she was invited inside to go into the room, closing the door behind her. Nodoka looked up from the book she had been reading and focused her attention on Ranka. "What is it dear?" Ranka had her arms behind her back in shy position. "I wanted to ask something, and to say that I guess me and Ranko went abit overboard about next weekend." She had put on her best distressed expression knowing it would melt Nodoka's anger and other things.

Indeed it had since Nodoka put her book down and patted the bed, signaling for Ranka to come sit and talk. Ranka gave a slight smile and hopped up onto the bed and sat crossed legged next to Nodoka. "The thing I wanted to ask was, well I made a new friend at school and I wanted to have her come over tomorrow for slumber party." Nodoka smiled and tried to hold in her excitement at finding out that Ranka had made a new friend, and that it had been awhile since Nodoka had entertained for someone. This would also be her first time entertaining as a mother and it was the happiest feeling. She also had hopes that with Ranka's new friend and having a sleep over that they could involve Ranko in all the activities. She clasped her hands together and a single tear slowly escaped one of her eyes. "Yes of course you can have your friend over for a sleep over Ranka, but I'd like you to try to get Ranko involved as well. She's a girl and yet I've never seen her really act like one, or hang out with any friends." Ranka smiled nervously at that comment since it was mostly true. "Have no worries mother that was my plan all along to involve my sister, but we can't tell her or she'll try to run off." She giggled softly and surprisingly enough she caught her mother giggling faintly as well. Nodoka patted Ranka on the head gently and then ran her hand down her hair for a second. "My aren't you a cleaver girl Ranka, I had no idea. But I think some socialization with another girl other then her sister will help in the long run." She then clasped her hands back together and had a vibrate smile on her face. "Now what kind's of snacks and meals would you like me to prepare for this get together tomorrow? Or anything else special that you need?"

Ranka smiled and played with some of hair. "You can get what you want, but if you want me to I'll make a list." Nodoka nodded. "Yes that would be a great deal of help, but I'll also get some things that I think are favorable for this gathering. Now you go get some sleep and we can go to the store in the morning to get what we need alright dear." Ranka smiled and nodded, hopping down off the bed and saying goodnight to her mother before leaving the room and closing the door after her.

As they had planned the night before, Ranka and Nodoka had gone out to the store rather early in the morning leaving Ranko alone. They had been out shopping for quite some time, that Ranko had finally woken up and found the note that they had left for her, as well as the prepared breakfast.

Ranma yawned and sat down at the table after heating up the food and started to dig in, all the while wondering why her mom and sister had gone off shopping out of the blue. She shrugged her shoulder's thinking it must be one of the many things that girl's do on a whim. After eating she rinsed off the dish and put it into the sink, since she had been with her mom for a couple of day's that was one of the new rule's to abid by and it just came natural after a few days. She stretched and went off to couch in the living room, flopping down onto it and picking up the remote ready to turn the tv on when she heard someone knocking on the door. She grumbled and rolled herself off of the couch and sprang up to a standing position and went over to the front door opening it.

Ukyou smiled but she was also very nervous and had arrived abit early. When she noticed who had answered the door she thought it was Ranka for a second, but then she noted the tanktop and knew it was Ranma. If she had jumped on the girl and said Ranka then Ranma would probably know what was going on and try to escape, so she played it cool. "Oh hi Ranchan is Ranka home?"

Ranma blinked and rubbed at her head surprised that Ukyou was here, but then recalled that Ranka and Ukyou were friends now. "Um not at the moment, you and her supposed to do something or something?"

Ukyou blushed abit since she and Ranma were talking so casually, that and she felt Ranma was on to her. "Um well she said I could come and look at her note's for one of our classes." Ranma shrugged and invited her in knowing that if she had told Ukyou to leave that Ranka would be cross with her. "Well you can come in and wait for her if you want, she shouldn't be much longer." Then Ranma retreated back to the couch in the same manner, she usually would when her mother wasn't about. Ukyou nodded and thought to herself that it was a good thing she had used a backpack for her sleepover things provided the little white lie she had told. She set the bag down and sat down on the other side of the couch nervously as she looked around. She was in Ranma's mother's house and soon she'd get closer to her as well, she tried to keep her excitement from showing. She seemed lucky since Ranma wasn't really paying much attention to her and more to the tv.

Ranka and Nodoka finally made their way into the house carrying lots of bags, and went straight off into the kitchen to set them down before they came back out into the living room to greet Ukyou. Nodoka was all over Ukyou, but very surprised at how little the girl knew about being feminine. Ranka after greeting her went back into the kitchen and started unloading the shopping and putting it away. Nodoka then turned to look at Ranko who immediately had sat up straight and was no longer flopped on the couch, she smiled brightly at her tomboy ish daughter too excited to hold back telling her. "Isn't it exciting Ranko it'll be everyone's first girl get together." Ranko looked back at her strangely and looked very nervous all of the sudden. Nodoka sat down next to her on the couch looking at her with concern. "What's wrong dear? A slumber party isn't going to kill you." Ranko blurted out the nervous words. "A slumber party!? As in sleeping over?!" Nodoka nodded and tried to comfort Ranko's sudden anxiety towards it. "Come now Ranko were all girls here and try to enjoy it for your sister, and Ukyou seems like a very nice girl, you should get to know her better. It won't kill you to have to share your room with another girl for one night." She patted Ranko on the head and went off into the kitchen humming happily to herself.

Ranma looked around and set her sights on the door, and then looked over at Ukyou with an annoyed look on her face as she whispered. "Uchan you planned all this didn't you.." Ukyou just smiled back at Ranma. "Of course not Ranko-chan, but remember what your mom said that you should get to know me better." Ranma huffed and crossed her arms knowing that if she dared to leave now she'd hear it from Ranka and her mother. Ranka came out from the kitchen looking quite happy till she spotted the sour puss on her sister's face. "Aww what's wrong Ranko? You don't like slumber parties?" Ranma glared at her somewhat knowing that she had planned this with Ukyou and the two didn't say anything till it was too late to escape. "No I don't there all stupid and girly..." Just then Nodoka had come into the room and heard what Ranko had said and disapproved on the spot. "Ranko mind your manner's we have a guest, and how do you know slumber parties are what you say you might like them if you give it a chance. Or if you really can't take it I suppose you could sleep with me in my room tonight." Ranma tried not to fall over from the shock and fear of dealing with Nodoka slicing and dicing in her sleep and talking about how she misses her Ranma. She gritted her teeth for a moment deciding that it'd be better to endure the girly slumber party then do that. "No i'll stay in my room..." Nodoka was abit hurt but Ranko would be involved with the other girl this way atleast.

Elsewhere Ryouga wandered the streets holding onto the utensil and thinking of Ranka and the delicious cake she had given him earlier. While he was wandering he didn't notice the lady above him tossing out a bucket of water from her window on the second floor as he passed by some houses, he was also too lost in his thoughts to notice the change and just kept going afterwards. In his dazed state of mind he had wandered into many different yard's and finally into Nodoka's. Ranma was sitting outside on the back porch munching on some shaved ice for dessert and she suddenly noticed P-chan wandering around the yard with a fork in his mouth and bent her spoon in half from being so angry. She had not forgotten Ryouga oggling after Ranka last weekend and her promise to beat him up without holding back, with that last thought in mind she jumped down off the porch and started chasing after him. "Ryouga!!" P-chan suddenly snapped out of his daze to see Ranma charging at him and started running off, he would've fought with her but he wanted to give back the fork to Ranka and that was what was on his mind, but right now he had to get away from Ranma. He of course had no idea why Ranma had found him so easily or that he was where Ranka was as well.

Not far off Ukyou and Ranka were laying back in the furo together talking about random things. Ukyou was talking about how wonderful it had been to have Nodoka's home cooking and to eat with her friend and Ranma of course. Ranka of course didn't really mind since she wanted Ukyou to have Ranma instead of Akane. The girls were so relaxed that they didn't hear all the commotion outside that Ranma and P-chan were causing running around the hallway near the bathing area. Also Nodoka who had dropped off some extra towels for the girls earlier had forgotten to close the door all the way, and P-chan saw it as somewhere to escape not knowing where it led to and squeezed through the opening.

Ukyou and Ranka were fooling around and Ukyou had lost her grip on the soap and it fell onto the floor a good ways from where they were. They just decided to use the same bar of soap after that. The whole area was all fogged up from the steam from the furo that the girls didn't notice p-chan run in with Ranma hot on his trail. Ranma of course was blind with rage and had forgotten the girls were in the furo and was also unprepared upon slipping on the soap and flying straight into the furo's hot water with a loud splash. P-chan on the other hand had made a flying dive in the air for the hot water after realizing that he was a pig, but what he made contact with was not water. P-chan squirmed around trying to get out from the hold but found what was holding him was very soft and felt quite nice. Ranka looked down at what was squirming inbetween her boobs and screamed and started fwailing around since she couldn't really tell what exactly it was, but she knew it was alive obviously. Ranma surfaced from the water now a guy coughing and fell face first into Ukyou's boobs earning a squeal from her till she was able to see who it was, then her face turned bright red and she finally managed to shove his face off her breasts and nervously started smacking his face about. "Ahh i'm so embarrassed! Ranchan how could you." Ranka stopped screaming and her face was bright red as she heard her mother's voice sounded concerned. After Ryouga had heard the woman's voice say Ranka he panicked and knew where he was since he had felt this nice soft feeling before, he started squirming about furiously which made Ranka giggled a good amount from the uncomfortable tickling that he was causing. He finally managed to get free and dashed out of the way of the furo, dropping the fork in the process as he scampered out of the bathroom making Nodoka yelp as he ran by her in a flash.

Nodoka made her way into the furo room walking through the steam. "Ranka, Ukyou are you girls alright I heard you two screaming?" Ranka had been preoccupied with her own problem but she had heard Ukyou going on about Ranma being there and she would get an explanation later, but for now she had to save him from their mother. Thinking fast she turned on the cold water faucet for the furo full blast and stuck her hand underneath the gushing water so that it sprayed all over the place, but mostly it was directed towards Ranma. Ranka kept her hand under for a good amount of time since if she let go before the hot water was cooled it might just change Ranma right back into a guy. Nodoka finally came to where the furo was and saw Ranka with her hand under the faucet, spraying it at Ranko. Nodoka put her hands on her hips and had one of her stern expressions on her face. "Ranka stop this horseplay immediately!" Ranka had no choice but to stop and did so, thinking that she had timed it just right so that the full force of the cold water had cooled down the furo so that it wouldn't change Ranma back to a boy in front of their mother. Nodoka was greatly disappointed with Ranka's childish behavior, but she was glad on the other hand that Ranko had changed her mind about bathing with the other girl's it seemed, but again this was another one of the strange occurrences that happened between the two siblings that she had to take note of. She still had to reprimand one of her daughters. "Now Ranka if this is what you and your friend were screaming about then I am very upset.." Ranka shook her head. "No that's not all of it, something was in here that was alive and it got itself um well er..stuck inbetween my.." She blushed bright red, that was all Nodoka had to hear to know what had gone on, and she had seen that little black pig that rushed out from the bathing area rather fast. But Nodoka's eye's were trained to follow fast movements and she was able to catch sight of it. "I see so that little black pig that I saw a moment ago had gotten in here and that's why you two were screaming.." Ranka nodded and then apologized for her childish behavior towards her sister and her friend, satisfied with that Nodoka left the bathing area.

Ranma coughed and spit a stream full of water out from her mouth that she had been holding in, she was also quite angry after hearing that that stupid pig had pulled the same stunt with Ranka. But at the moment Ranma was in no position to go after him, she was quite embarrassed about falling into the furo and onto Ukyou's chest, that and being in the furo with Ranka was somewhat embarrassing but not as much as being in it with Ukyou. Ukyou breathed a sigh of relief at Ranka's fast action's, but now she also knew that Ryouga had been the one that made Ranka scream and the one that Ranma was chasing after.

Ranka was still calming herself down after hearing from her mother that obviously P-chan, since he's the only little black pig she knows had been what was lodged inbetween her boobs. She thought to herself, _'Just why the hell is he so intoxicated with my freaking boobs!' _She tightened her fist under the water for a moment before getting out without warning anyone and going off to the shower after grabbing two towel's.

Ukyou had to giggle when Ranma started ranting at Ranka for not warning her that she was going to get out of the furo so suddenly. Ranma sweatdropped as she heard Ukyou giggling over her behavior, that and the fact that they were alone in the furo together. That and afraid that Ukyou might get bold and try something, so she tried to escape. "Well I um forgot I was supposed to help mom clean up, so I'll be getting out." Ukyou had a smirk on her face and she shook one of her fingers at Ranma. "Come now sugar is it that bad bathing with me? We always bathed together when we were kids." She blushed somewhat as she remembered those times. Ranma looked quite embarrassed as well before shooting back a reply. "Hey now we were kids and I thought you were a boy back then!" Ukyou felt her anger rising, but she kept it at bay and decided to tease Ranma as she started to get up halfway so that her boobs were showing. "Does this look like I'm a boy, well does it?" Ranma was backed up against the wall trying not to stare, and nervously took the chance to bolt as she jumped out from the furo, grabbing a towel and leaving the furo area as fast as she could. Ukyou sighed as she heard the door close with a loud thud, she sank back down into the water looking rather disappointed.

Ranka came out of the shower area with a towel wrapped around her body and she used another one to dry off her hair. She noticed how down Ukyou looked and figured out that Ranma had bolted. Ukyou looked up and caught sight of the she guessed Ranka but right now she wanted to think that it was Ranma, and wondered if it would be selfish of her to ask Ranka to let her dream. Ranka kind of noticed that Ukyou wanted to ask her something and tilted her head. "What is it Ukyou?" Ukyou blushed somewhat and was twiddling her fingers about nervously, since she knew what she wanted was wrong. "Well I was um just wondering..if I could pretend you were Ranma?" Ranka blinked for a moment and then smirked somewhat finding what Ukyou wanted to be a very reasonable request, that and she could most likely use it to her advantage. "Sure I'll pretend to be Ranma for you Ukyou, so what is it that you want me to do? You know I can only pretend to be Ranma's girl side though." Ukyou's face was bright red as she nodded, it really didn't matter to her girl or boy ranma if she could just pretend it was him.

Ranka was abit miffed that she would have to shower again, but if she could make Ukyou happy and later on tease Ranma about what he missed out on it'd be worth it. She took off the towel and tossed the other one to the floor and got back into the furo and tied her damp hair into a pigtail so the illusion would be complete. For Ukyou it was the moment she saw the pigtail that she started to fall into this dream and blushed furiously as she just starred at Ranka. Ranka yawned as a few moment's went by and she wondered if she should make the first move, so she started to move towards Ukyou. Ukyou started to get embarrassed and started splashing around soaking Ranka and the loosely untied pigtail came undone. The illusion had been shattered, but Ukyou was content with what she was able to pretend and didn't want to go any further at the moment as she apologized to Ranka.

Ranka was abit disappointed that Ukyou had not been able to carry through any further but she didn't dwell on it as she left her in the furo for abit as she went back to shower again. Ukyou laid back against the wall trying to calm herself down as she sank into another daydream.

Later on after the girl's had changed into their pajama's and had the futons set up, and Ranma was no where's near them, they started to plan some activities. Ranka choose spin the bottle where you have to kiss whoever it lands on, and this had Ukyou blushing since Ranma would probably be playing. But of course they wouldn't tell him that they were playing that kind of spin the bottle till it landed on him. Eventually Nodoka made Ranma go upstairs to her room to join the other's, much to her discontent she went. Ranka smiled and explained the rules of the game to her sister as she had no choice but to take part in this. Since they were short on player's Ranka put a pillow in the circle to make up a forth player. Ranka's plan was to play truth and dare till it landed on Ranma, then they'd switch to the kissing one. She gave Ukyou the first spin and it landed on Ranma, Ukyou blushed furiously and quickly kisses Ranma on her cheek, making Ranma jump suddenly. Ranka put on an innocent face as she explained to Ranma that they were playing the kissing game. Ranma scowled at Ranka and pointed the finger at her. "You! You had this planned all along!" Ranka smirked somewhat. "So what if I did hmm? You have to play or you'll make mom upset and we wouldn't want that." Ranma grumbled and crossed her arms. "Satan's spawn.." Ranka nodded not taking offense to it this time since she grown stronger since her other self had appeared to her in her dreams. "You know I am, now let's continue. It's your turn." Ranma gave Ranka a look before spinning the bottle rather roughly. They all watched as the bottle stopped spinning and it pointed at Ranka. Ranma insisted on redoing the spin, and Ranka agreed with a bright red face. Ukyou told them it wouldn't be a big deal if it were a kiss on the cheek, but they both refused. Ranma respun the bottle and they watched as it stopped and pointed at the pillow, which had the two girl's laughing while Ranma was red in the face as she stared at the pillow annoyed. After that they all decided to quit the game since after Ranma finally kissed the pillow they were all too busy laughing.

With that game done Ranka proposed that they play with each other's hair, Ranma tried to decline but Ranka reminded her that their mother wouldn't be happy. Then Ranka paired Ukyou and Ranma to each other's hair, of course Ranma again was not pleased but this was better then that stupid kissing game. Ukyou was of course happy but also very nervous, but she started to undo Ranma's pigtail and gently brushed it out and she started to fall into one of her fantasies. Ranka snapped her out of it after she noted that Ukyou had brushed out Ranma's hair 3 times.. Then Ukyou started to style the hair into two cute little bun's and left some hair loose in the front on each side of the face. After she was done she showed Ranma the hair style by showing her to a mirror. Ranma fussed with the bun's somewhat. "I look chinese.." Ranka piped in to counterattack the remark. 'Well you dress chinese too." This caused Ukyou to laugh and Ranka joined in, Ranma on the other hand was abit annoyed and told them to knock it off. Then she smirked and told Ukyou that it was her turn to get her hair done. Ukyou sweatdropped not knowing if she could trust Ranma with her hair, he really only did his into one style. Ranka of course picked up on this and told Ranma that she wasn't allowed to do a pigtail style, Ranma grumbled and agreed and looked down at the brush hesitantly. "Um can I practice on something first?" Ranka and Ukyou both sweatdropped, before Ranka could say anything they focused their attention on the pillow that was moving about. Ranma caught sight and looked behind it seeing the oh so familiar black piglet and flames lit up in her eyes. "RYOUGA!!!" Ranka and Ukyou who had been sitting near the pillow in their bottomless dress like pajama's each screamed and covered the openings. Ranma was too busy running about the room in a mad frenzy trying to catch P-chan the perverted.

Ranka groaned and wished that all her other pajama's weren't in the laundry, she usually wouldn't wear a dress like pajama outfit, but given the situation she had to. Ukyou on the other hand only did so because she thought it would impress Ranma if she dressed lady like, but she hadn't counted on Ryouga peeping. Nodoka was already at the door after hearing the girl's scream and she wasn't sure if they were in danger or just goofing. She banged at the door and asked if everything was ok. Ranka got up quickly and ran over to the door, just as Ranma caught P-chan in her grasp. Ranka opened the door looking embarrassed when she saw the upset look on her mothers face. "Sorry mom there was this big ugly spider hanging right above our heads..and I couldn't help it and me and Ukyou screamed." Nodoka put one of her hands to her chest and sighed a breath of relief and looked less upset. "Alright I see, well then I'll see you girl's in the morning." She bid them farewell and retired to her room for the night.

After Nodoka left Ranma went back to messing around with P-chan, till Ranka snatched him away holding the piglet by his bandana. Ranma gave Ranka a look and hand one of her hands on her hips. "What's the big idea! I'm not done with that piece of bacon yet!" Ranka held Ranma back with one of her hands, still holding P-chan by his bandana in the air. "You can go at him all you want later, but right now you have to calm down. Mom's in the next room over and if you start acting all violent you'll be in for it.. So were just going to let it go for now and go to sleep." She gave P-chan a cold look. "Isn't that right Ryouga? There won't be any problems tonight.." P-chan nodded quickly in reply, Ranka smiled somewhat and sat him down onto the floor. Ranma grumbled and crossed her arms going over to where her futon was and flopped down onto it. Her sister was right but it pissed her off that wasn't able to give Ryouga a proper beat down, but she'd have her chance tomorrow. Ukyou had just sat there quietly not wanting to interfere. Ranka went off to her own futon and went under the covers. "Ranma you turn off the light's since your closest to the light switch." Ranma grumbled again and got up and flicked the light switch off and flopped back down onto her futon. They all said goodnight to one another before snuggling deep into the comfort of the soft blankets and drifted off to sleep shortly after.

The next morning Ranka was the first one to wake up and she looked over next to her at Ukyou who had pushed her futon closer to Ranma's during the night and was now hugging onto Ranma. Ranka caught herself before the giggle could come out and she slowly and quietly got up out of her covers and went over to the closet and looked over at her outfits. She browsed through them as quietly as she could since she had to pick out an outfit for her outing with Thrishta later on today. Ukyou slowly started waking up and noticed what she was hugging onto and quickly let go very embarrassed and resisted the urge to start smacking at Ranma. She had absently mindedly hugged onto Ranma thinking of one of her stuffed animals while she had been dreaming. She noticed Ranka was up an about and put her hand to her face, wondering if she had seen her hugging onto Ranma like that. Ranka smirked at Ukyou to let her know that she had seen and then smiled at the cute expression on her face. "It's ok I won't tell if you don't want him to know, besides I'm on your side."

Ukyou moved her hands off her face and to her heart that was beating furiously and she smiled gently at Ranka. "Thanks sugar." Ranma had woken up suddenly and heard some of what they were chattering about, but only in blurred words since she was half awake. She mumbled something and flopped back down onto the futon shaking her fists in the air. "I'll kill you ryouga.. I'll get you.." Ukyou and Ranka looked at each other and softly giggled, then Ranka walked over and scooped up her pillow from the floor and went over to where Ranma was and brought down the pillow ontop of Ranma's head and kept repeating the motion. "Wake up Ranko, come on it's time to get up. Oh uh is that P-chan that I see?" She moved away with a smirk on her face as Ranma sprang up out of bed and jumping up. "Ryouga!!" Ranka laughed and whacked Ranma on the back of her head with the pillow. "Just kidding!" She tossed the pillow back onto her futon and ran out of the room laughing, leaving a confused Ranma just standing there.

Nodoka came walking by the doorway and stopped short as she spotted all the feathers all over Ranko and Ukyou giggling, she herself couldn't repress the giggle that escaped her lips. She caught herself and cleared her throat. "Good morning girls it seems your having fun? Care to help me make breakfast hmm?"

Ukyou's eyes sparkled brightly as she pictured her cooking along side Ranma's mother. She bowed her head deeply showing her utmost respect. "Oh yes Mrs. Saotome it would be an honor." Nodoka smiled and bowed back to her daughters guest. "Well then follow me, you come along as well Ranko alright." Ranma snapped out of her dumfounded gaze and nodded and followed after Ukyou as she brushed feathers out of her hair. Nodoka didn't ask about Ranka since she figured she was already up and would gladly help with making breakfast. Sure enough as they all entered the kitchen Ranka was already there setting the table. Nodoka went over to her and praised her for being on top of things first thing in the morning, then she asked the girls what they wanted for breakfast and they all agreed on a simple western style meal.

Nodoka went about to setting up everything the girls needed, then she went and set up the rice cooker and the salad. Ranma grabbed some eggs and cracked them open skillfully into the frying pan, Ukyou handled the bacon and the toast. With everyone working together, breakfast came and went as well as the clean up. Afterwards Ranma sprawled out on the couch contently, grabbing the remote control and flipping through the channels. Ukyou had packed up her belongings and was getting ready to leave, she had wanted to stay longer but she couldn't leave the restuarant unattended much longer. "Well I had alot of fun you guys,but I have to get back to the Okonomiyaki." Ranka nodded in agreement with her. "No problem, we'll have to do this again." Ranma gave a nod and a quick wave. "Later Uchan." Ukyou started to head out towards the door to leave, when Nodoka objected to a young lady walking alone. "It just won't do for you to walk back alone Ukyou dear, besides I have to run an errand along the way." She used the errand as an subtle excuse, one the girl couldn't turn down. Ukyou blinked in confusion as Ranma's mother took her by the hand and walked with her outside. Nodoka turned her head in the girls direction. "I'll be back in awhile girls." After they responded she left with Ukyou who was quite excited that she was walking with Ranma's mother, but also very nervous at the same time.

After her mom was gone, Ranma sprawled out on the couch in a further unlady like position and yawned lazily. "Man.. I'm glad that's over." Ranka slyly smirked at her. "Oh come on, you know you enjoyed hanging at with Ukyou. I know I did."

Ranma rolled her eyes at her sister's frank behavior. "Well, obviously you did."

Ranka smiled deviously, as she decided to further press buttons. "I bet you enjoyed being in the furo with her, just like when you were kids. It's not the same when it happens with Shampoo, now is it?"

Ranma pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked highly agiatated at Ranka's behavior, and was ready to say something about it, but the word 'Shampoo.' made her suddenly remember. "Aah crap! I forgot I was supposed to go on a date with Shampoo yesterday.."

Ranka tilted her head to one side. "Oh really? You should go on a date with Ukyou instead."

Ranma smacked her hand to her face in frustration. "Damn.. I guess I should go over there and sort things out." She muttered to herself absent mindly. "But I really don't want to go and be.." She gulped in mid sentence. "and have to be all alone with her..." She shuddered at the thought of being stuck alone with the amazon girl. Ranka suddenly had an amused look. "Why don't I go along then?" She suggested. Ranma snapped out of her many horrible thoughts of what could happen if she were alone with Shampoo. "Really? You'd do that?"

Ranka smiled tenderly at Ranma this time. "Of course, I know you hate being alone with that amazon." Ranma started to feel less anxious about it, till she remembered Shampoo's other request "_Alone _" and feel back in her nervous state of mind. Ranka of course knew what was on Ranma's mind and had a scheme of her own to counter Shampoo's demand of being alone with Ranma. But who she had in mind annoyed her somewhat, what annoyed her is that since she had Ranma's memories she felt kind of ease at picking Ryouga. Since Ranma had disguised and led Ryouga on as a girl numberous times, but another part of her was screaming no to the whole thing. But her other self from before kept telling her that it'd just be the same as in Ranma's memories, that it's purely just to watch over Ranma and not to think of it as a date. She sighed inwardly to herself and finally spat it out. "I'll pretend i'm on a date and just coincidently go to the same places." Ranma had a hesitant look on her face. "With who?" Ranka looked flustered at being asked, and didn't really want to say. "Ryouga.." She said slightly hesiantly. Ranma started laughing at first, then found herself getting angry at remembering all the perverted incidents so far involving him with his sister. "No way!" Ranka looked puzzled and tried to convince Ranma she'd keep Ryouga under control. "Pft, if he tries anything i'll beat the snot out of him, alright?" Ranma huffed and flopped back down onto the couch defeated. She didn't really approve, but she was going to trust that Ranka would do what she said, if she needed to. "Fine.." She mustered up all her will to push herself up off to couch, so that she was standing up. "I'll be back." She let out a heavy sigh and after changing she headed out to the Nekohanten, grumbling all the way.

In the meantime, Ranka went upstairs and found P-chan nestled under some blankets snoozing away. She promptly started poking at him. "Hey Ryouga, get up." The black piglet make annoyed bweeting noises and eventually the poking woke him up with a loud and angry bweet, until he saw who it was. His pig snout turned pinker then it was, as he blushed furiously at Ranka starring at him with her lovely blue eyes. "Good morning Ryouga, now listen up and listen good." She said sternly to the piglet.

After she had fully explained things to him and made him agree not to interfere without her say so, she picked him the piglet up by his yellow bandana that was around his neck and took him to the bathing area. Once there she set him down on the floor and started running the warm water for the bath, since pigs can't very well turn the knobs. After setting out his clothes that she had randomly found the night before, and they had gotten washed accidently getting mixed in with the laundry,she took her leave from the room. P-chan hopped up onto the sideline's of the furo and hopped into it, when he thought the water was deep enough and emerged a human once again. He laid back lost in his thoughts as he enjoyed the warmth from the furo.

Ranka remained close by as a look out, in case Nodoka came back earlier then planned. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, as a thought suddenly hit her. She had almost forgotten that today was Sunday, and she was supposed to go out with that Thrishta girl. She shrugged her shoulders at it, since she really didn't feel she could trust this new girl and she didn't have to meet with her till much later on in the day. If she timed it right, she could get away with helping Ranma and keep to her appointment with the girl.

Ryouga snapped out of his thoughts as a thought suddenly occured to him, thinking back to what Ranka had told him awhile ago. "Me and her.. it'll be like a date... A date!" His face turned bright red and he found himself laughing nervously. He had laughed rather loudly, as Ranka had heard him and yelled towards his direction. "It's not a date!!" But all he heard or wanted to hear was "It's a date!" Ranka rolled her eyes knowing how Ryouga was and how he would misinterput how things were said, and no matter how many times she told him that this was **NOT** a date, he'd still think that it was. So she decided she'd let him think that, but her on the other hand she wasn't thinking the same. She grumbled and hopped up off the couch, and went back over to the furo's door and knocked on it. "Don't take too long in there Ryouga, I don't know when my mom will be coming back.. I sure as hell don't want to explain why there's a guy here.." She was already embarassed and the thought of how much more embarassed she'd be if Nodoka came back and found Ryouga in the house, in the furo for that matter. She shook her head and patted both of her cheeks with her hands in an attempt to calm herself down, so that she wasn't thinking like that.

Elsewhere Ranma made her way to the Nekohanten, and of course Shampoo happened to be outside sweeping and caught sight of Ranma and lept into the air and glomped onto her. Ranma groaned and tried to endure it as best as she could. Shampoo kept rubbing her face against Ranma, but suddenly she stopped as she remembered how she was tricked by the other girl ranma before, and had to be sure it wasn't her. "You no is evil girl, right?" Ranma shoved her off abruptly. "I told you, don't start about my sister Shampoo!" Shampoo smiled cheerily and glomped back onto the girl immediately, as she had confirmed it wasn't Ranka. "Shampoo so so happy, Ranma came to apologize." Ranma frowned slightly, still annoyed at her comment towards her sister, but right now she had to suck it up. "Yes, I'm sorry I forgot about our date yesterday.. So lets do it today instead, ok?" Shampoo clung onto to her tighter. "Aiyaa, Shampoo accept! I see you in an hour here." She let go of an almost out of breath Ranma and skipped into the restuarant humming a chinese song. Mousse stuck his head out through the door and glared at Ranma menacily. "I'll get you for this Saotome.." After angry calls from Cologne, Mousse reluntantcly went back to kitchen. Ranma sighed and slumped her shoulders as she walked back to the house to get ready for the date.

Inside the restuarant Shampoo skipped about happily, and carried on to her great grandmother about finally having a date with Ranma. She wasn't aware that some of the customer's were listening, and two of them just happened to be Akane's best friends. Sayuri frowned as she finished her ramen, along with the other girl and the paid for their meal and left in a hurry. Sayuri of course had to let her friend know that Ranma was dating someone else. As soon as Sayuri got home, she was on the phone with Akane telling her what she had heard.

A furious Akane thanked Sayuri for the information and hung up afterwards. Sayuri understood that Akane was angry and in a hurry to stop this, so she wasn't surprised at the sudden hang up. Akane bawled her hands into tight fists and slammed one of her fists into the wall. _'How could he!' _She thought to herself bitterly.

Down in the depths of hell, Alley was doing part of her job as she surveyed the humans for any thoughts that would interest her to make them do something bad. Suddenly she heard the bitter words and the image of Akane Tendou appeared in her crystal ball. A crooked grin crept across her lips, as she reconized the girl as Ranma Saotomes fiance, they all knew this as Satan had kept tabs on Ranma for awhile. She could use this as an oppurtunity to outshine Ivory for a change. She leaned back in her office chair, and whispered commands into the crystal ball and they found their way into Akane's mind. She giggled softly at her scheme, she wanted to go further then this, but if she did Onna.. She shook her head as she remembered the girl had changed her name, no Ranka would catch on if she wasn't careful. That didn't bother her too much, because she knew this would make things difficult for the girl somehow and that was all the better.

As time passed by, Ranma had gotten ready for the date. Ranka was already ready, as well as Ryouga who just stood outside nervously. Ranka stayed by the front door ,while she finished writting up the note that her and Ranko would leave for Nodoka. "Come on Ranma." She said impatiently, while tapping her foot. Ranma gave her annoyed look. "Alright already, I'm coming..even though I don't want to." Still in girl form she was wearing one of her somewhat fancier chinese outfits, and would wait to turn into a guy. Ranka tossed the water thermos with the hot water at Ranma as she went out through the front door. Ryouga looked up from twiddling his fingers anxiously, and took a good look at what Ranka was wearing. She had on turquoise long sleeved shirt with frilly ends at the sleeves, with a somewhat low cut neck line with studs alone it, and a black pleated skirt like her school one, and a high length black gothic boots much like the one's she wore to school as well. Then she had her hair up in ponytail with a pink bow tied at the top, and light blue earrings that dangled slightly and were shaped like raindrops. Of course she had on her red gem necklace as well, and let it hang out in the open, which she usually didn't do. Ryouga sighed happily, till Ranma thwacked him in the head as she walked by. "It's not a date.." Of course Ryouga didn't hear a word and really didn't retaliate like he usually did, he was to lost in the beauty of the girl that stood before him.

They all walked a ways from the house and down a dark alley way, where Ranma doused herself with the contents of the thermos and became a he once again. He tightened his fist as they came out of the alley way and nearing the Nekohanten slowly. "I'll go first, since she'll suspect i'm up to something if we went in all together." Ranka nodded in agreement and her and Ryouga went off in a different direction for the time being. Ranma groaned, for one he hated that Ryouga was alone with his sister and the outfits she liked, the low cut ones.. and that he was right in front of the Nekohanten now. Shampoo screamed happily as she caught sight of Ranma and that he wasn't in his girl form this time. She glomped onto him furiously. "Airen, Shampoo so so happy now." Ranma tried to hold back the urge to bolt, and remembered Ranka would be there soon. "Hey, I'm starving let's eat something." He knew full well that she'd want to make him ramen at her restuarant. She snuggled up against him affectionately as always. "Shampoo will make you to to special ramen." She led him inside to a table and ran off into the kitchen basking in glory.

Ranka had decided to do 'the annoying' girl thing, try to drive the guy crazy with girly shopping. Ryouga just agreed to everything with a sheepish laugh, while rubbing the back of his head with one of his hands nervously. Ranka quirked an eyebrow and tossed a random girly item back to where it orignally was, with a peeved look. "Eh, it's about time we make our entrance." She grabbed Ryouga by the hand and dragged him off with her towards the Nekohanten.

Shampoo emerged from the kitchen with two bowls of Ramen, and set them down on the table, and took her seat next to Ranma happily. "Great grandmother making dim sums." Ranma cringed at the mention of dim sums, at remembering how Shampoo had put some sort of spell on him. "Ahaha great.." She snuggled up to him again. "We go see romantic movie after lunch." Ranma slouched in his chair not amused. "Sure.." He said reluntactly and started on his ramen, trying to get his mind off of the date.

Ranka and Ryouga entered the Nekohanten, and Mousse showed them to a table not to far off from Ranma and Shampoo's. He did so, so he could keep an eye on Shampoo while he was working and as he passed by he gave Ranma a quick cold glare. Ranma didn't really notice as he saw Ranka was there and felt some relief. Shampoo slowly took notice, it took her awhile since the girl wasn't wearing her school uniform or her hair down. "Why she here.." She hissed out the words. Ranma sweatdropped and put on a smile. "It's a coincident, that's all Shampoo." Shampoo couldn't help but smile and tried to forget about Ranka being there, that and she seemed to have her own date. She started giggling after she realized who it was and looked over at the two of them. "Is to to perfect, you and pig boy a happy couple." Ranma tried not to react to her rude comment, but he had one of his fist clenched.

Ranka kept her cool and kind of ignored the comment, Shampoo could say whatever the hell she wanted, she was really here for her brother's sake. Ryouga started laughing nervously and kept rubbing the back of his head, and he was in such pure bliss he let Shampoo's comment slide. Mousse came back with their orders and gave Ranma another menacinging look as he passed by once again. Ryouga laughed nervously again. "Ahaha it smells good, doesn't it Ranka?" He wasn't paying attention as he picked up the napkin and started chewing on it. Ranka gave Ryouga a dumbfounded look and looked away. "Your eating a napkin.." Ryouga laughed again and spit it out and after many tries he found the ramen finally.

After finally returning home, Nodoka recieved an anonymous phone call but she didn't seem to care as what she was told was much more important. She couldn't hold back her tears and anxiousness she was feeling. She looked around for the girls frantically and found the note finally, she thought it was suspicious at how they were gone and now Ranma had suddenly appeared, according to the anonymous phone call. As she raced out the front door, locking it up before she started running down the street as gracefully as one could while running. Her heart raced at the anticipation of being able to see her son once again.

Back at the Tendo's, Akane had hung up the phone and cleared her throat from making her voice sound differently. The commands still swarmed her mind, and all she wanted to do was get back at Ranma for going on a date with Shampoo and not her! A thought suddenly came to her, it wouldn't be in her favor if she was seen by Ranma. She'd simply get someone else to do part of her dirty work for her, at first she thought of Happosai but he was currently not around. Probably on one of his panty raids.. She thought with disgust. She snapped her fingers as remembered another person she could count on, she picked up the phone once again and started another shady conversation.

Nodoka finally arrived at her destitanation, having to stop to catch her breath before she entered the Nekohanten. As she entered she looked around the restuarant hoping she'd see him. Then she spotted him, even though she hadn't seen her son since he was a small child, she knew it was him. She put her hands to her face, as she stood there frozen in shock as the tears she couldn't hold back streamed down her face. She finally managed to find her voice and called out to him eagerly. "RANMA!"

Just then a shadowy figure emerged from within the confines of the ceiling, where he had been hiding skillfully, pulling out the water thermos full of cold water. Ranka swirved her head to where the voice was coming from, her face turning pale as she caught sight of her mother in the doorway. She swished her head in Ranma's direction and caught a glimpse of his horrified expression on his face. All of a sudden her red gem lit up brightly, as it had sensed the shadowy figure before any of them. Ranka fully alerted, looked where the gem was telling her and acted quickly as the shadowy figure flung some of the cold water at Ranma.

Nodoka was broken out of her shock as she heard the screeching of chair legs and then a large crash. Ranka had bolted out from her chair and flung herself in front of Ranma, knocking him out of his chair and sending them both sprawling onto the floor with a large thud, with her getting most of the water on her saving him from turning into a girl.

Sasuke snapped his fingers and dissapeared inside the confines of the ceiling once more, going off to find a new hiding spot. Ranma groaned as he felt some pain from the sudden impact, but had no time to worry about that as Nodoka came running over. Nodoka couldn't contain herself, her heart was racing as she helped the pigtailed boy up and she embraced him tightly. "Oh Ranma! It is you isn't it Ranma?"

Shampoo had a bewildered look on her face at all the commution that was ruining her date, but the look was mainly because Ranma's mother was there. She wouldn't dare make a fuss with that scary woman about. Ryouga hadn't been paying attention to any of what was going on, he was still eating his ramen lost in his happy thoughts.

I don't own Ranma 1/2 the great and powerful Rumiko Takahashi and Kitty does.


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